The gift that keeps on giving...

Even living in Chicago, my parents were able to provide us dinner (and then some) all week!

When they came to visit us this past weekend, they came LOADED with goodies form their AH-mazing organic garden. They take gardening seriously. Their neighbor's mom even commented that she hadn't seen a garden like that since she lived in Greece.

Monday was this gem of a soup that I make constantly. This time I got to use Kale from their garden!

Tuesday we stuffed our faces with stuffed poblano peppers that were off the charts yummy, in my opinion.

Wednesday was veggie burritos with a delicious black bean/avocado salad using mom and dad's tomatoes.

Thursday we tried out a new recipe for soup.

Friday was an old tried and true favorite with my mom's kale, and tomatoes-paired with Tilapia and cous cous.

Saturday was another staple at our house. We used the zucchini and squash from my parents.

My mom and I also pureed lots of veggies for Addison-my freezer is literally jam packed.

To top it all off, I made some zucchini bread, and we STILL have lots left over.

So thanks mom and dad for feeding the 3 of us--now come here and do my dishes.

Another snippet

...of what's been happenin' around the crib.

quite a difference, hunh?

I think I would just pass out

from my fave

...if I had the chance to wear this.

Kudos Anna, Kudos.

sigh...

um, hi. are you two the cutest things ever?

yes, i think you are.

Reach for the stars...

no, this isn't my boy. but my boy has begun reaching for me, and my heart melts every single time. even if he is screaming his head off while reaching for me, i still melt.

sometimes the screaming makes me reach for the nearest bottle of red, but i still melt none-the less.

this little dude has changed so much in the last couple of weeks--pulling himself up on everything-anything-anyone. sitting up in his crib. becoming more curious, and flirting like mad. he loves the ladies. from my friend, mel, to the cute check out gal at costco, he always has the attention span to flirt.

everyone always says, "this age is the BEST"-no matter what age their kid is. i can't imagine it being better than this, but i know it will be. even when he's 13, and his voice is cracking.

however, i don't think he'll reach for me then.

i will savor each reach i get.

Inspiration

Our next project for Addison's play room......you know, after our "breather".

The first day of starting over--err--fall.

September has been a total whirl wind. It started with a visit from Emily, my best friend in Chicago. Then it was my husband's birthday, Followed by a fun filled weekend with my parents. Throw in some freelance work, projects around the house, Addison turning 9 months, a really exciting new adventure that I will go into further detail about next week, and I'm sure several other things that I am failing to mention.

Our DVR is jam packed with weeks of shows that we need to catch up on, my to-do list is growing by the minute, and I don't need to mention my lack of blogging.

I love fall-LOVE- but I want to ENJOY fall. I have an issue with over committing, and am vowing to work on that. It's so hard to make changes, but I believe that small, subtle changes are opportunities to make "life changes". I don't make new year's resolutions--for obvious reasons. However, I do believe in being mindful of taking the necessary steps needed to get you to where you would like to be. So I am treating the rest of September as my "new year"--a fresh start to fall. Focusing on what's important, what drives me, and allowing space for just doing nothing.

That, and organizing my closet.

Vision quest

This lady is amazing. Anna seems to get all the credit, but Ms. Coddington is the master behind vogue if you ask me. I cancelled my subscription last year, because, well, I was just plain bored with the publication. I'm considering renewing after being so inspired with Grace's work as of late.

She is a true artist, with an amazing vision. And her first name is rather fitting isn't it?

There's a kiss at the end of the rainbow...

You know the rest.

Happy Birthday Mitchey.

I care enough to send the very best.

I love you.

9

There are some pretty cool things surrounding the number 9.

Nine is one of my favorite Fellini movies.

Nine inch Nails used to be a pretty cool band.

Nine is the month of your daddy's birthday.

9-09 is Auntie Ambee's Birthday.

If the denominator of a rational number is not divisible by 3, then the repeating part of it's decimal expansion is an integer divisible by 9.....DUH!

Nine is seen as the number of completeness. (whatever that means).

But my favorite thing about the number 9, is that today, you are 9 months old.

Little miss muffet sat on a.....stool.

Is it narcissistic that i just posted 3 pictures of Moi? Let me explain--my great, sweet, adorable, talented friend Jessie took these shots at our fun KC bloggers night. She displays her great photos over here. I feel like I need to start my own Jessie blog so that I can show off just how cute she is, as she doesn't post enough pics of herself.

Hint Hint, Jess. Hint Hint.

Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs

I mean, I really have no words for this.

Okay, I lie. I have many. And lots of exclamation points. I was doing some freelancing today for Laura Mercier at Halls. I walked over to the jewelry department to look at a bracelet that a client was lusting after, and there it was-this flipping ring. It is, incredible. Really incredible.

I don't get that excited over jewelry. I like it, don't get me wrong-but it hasn't taken over my purse obsession that's for sure. This ring is edgy, and classic, and unique, and wonderful, and gorgeous, and I want want want it. Badly. It's dumb how hard I fell in love with this little thing that sits on my finger-have I mentioned how insane it looks with a dark nail polish? It does.

Bananas-I die--the whole 9 yards. The picture doesn't do it any justice. But my finger does. And I am taking donations.

Just a little patience...yeaaaah.

Having a baby is pretty rad, I have to say. There are so many amazing things that occur daily. Watching him grow, and seeing his personality become larger than life is like watching performance art. Good performance art, that is. I pray that I can help guide this chubby baby into the man that God intends for him to be.

Another prayer I have constantly is for patience. Isn't it funny how God will gracefully give you situations that help you grow, versus waving His "magic wand", and those things just "appearing"?

I was blessed with an insanely patient husband. Like, beyond patient. What's even more inspiring, is that he isn't passive--he's patient. I strive to be more like him, and really want Add to see that trait in both of us.

There are crazy days around here--sometimes days where nothing seems to be in my favor. the days where Add has massive poopy pants, and I pull out the last wipe (normally I am so obsessed with being prepared)-days where I drop his (glass) bottle on the floor and it shatters in a million pieces. Did I mention it was the last bottle in the fridge? Did I mention he is starving, and we home make his formula, and it takes roughly 12 minutes? Days where he whines in the car from the moment I put the key in the ignition until we get home (rare, but it happens-generally on the days where all of the above takes place).

But I really have to give God a shout out here, because He is really working in this area of my life. I am not even close to where I would like to be, but I read recently that it isn't the end result of something that is the "goal" with God, it is the journey. I am grateful for this journey--and if He would like to teach me how not to be so obsessed with out of control priced handbags, I am here for the challenge-er-journey.

Another great Kate

all images from the best blog ev-ah

While plowing through my new book, I came across an amazing photo of Kate Lanphear. I have been a huge admirer of her style-effortless, tough, rock-n-roll. Her hair is one of her greatest accessories, but doesn't compete with any of her ensembles. I'm pretty sure I would covet anything in her closet.

Before and 4 months After

before


Jared and I were on a mission. In my pregnant state, I somehow managed to convince my husband to go on a furniture shopping spree. We agreed on spending "x" amount. Surprisingly, we stayed within our "budget". That was, until the sales dude told us that I had picked out the most expensive fabric for our couch. Go figure. It's in my nature. Every time a magazine has, say, a section devoted to this season's "it bag", it is inevitable that I pick out the one that costs triple our mortgage. There was no tuning back now. We had already ingrained in our head's, the final outcome of the room. There was absolutely no other swatch on the planet that would suffice now. Well, actually there is because we ended up getting the wrong color when the couch was delivered, but that's another long, exhausting story.

Anyhoo-because of our splurge, we were now on a quest to find a few more items with a MUCH lower price tag, that we could spruce up ourselves. I found us a cute little kitchen set on Craigslist, that we were going to give a face-lift to. It wasn't anything too special, but with a new slap of paint, and some fun fabric on the seats, it would do. If memory serves me correctly, we paid 200 bucks for it, and they delivered it to our pad. Not too shabby.

Fast forward a month and a half later -the table is sitting in our basement, and the fabric has yet to be ordered. My mom comes to visit for mother's day, and we decide to check out the neighborhood garage sale. As we are walking up the driveway to one of the houses down the street, my mom starts going gaga over this table and chair set. I agreed it was cute, but I was trying to focus. I wasn't in the "table and chair" market. But when we got closer, I began to break a sweat. It was adorable-definitely.y an antique. "It's been in our family since the 1930's" , said the owner, who happened to be the sweetest old lady. My mom starts whispering all the things I could do with this set. "Look at the legs!", "Gina, you'll never find anything like this", "do you know how much this would cost in Chicago??". "OKAY!!!!".

I told my mom that if they took $40, I would bring it home to our furniture graveyard, thinking they would never accept that ridiculous offer.

They accepted.

I only took one "before" shot--but it was an orangey-tan wood, with a yellowish color on the detailed part of the chair. The table also had hand painted roses on it, covered with about 20 coats of varnish.

I think the end result came out great--huge thanks goes to my mother-in-law for sanding and polyurethane-ing this thing to death!!!

Devouring

oatmeal with flax meal, berries, almond milk, and some serious eye candy.

whirlwind

this past week was a blur. a fun blur, but a blur none the less.

auntie em came to visit, and it was a weekend full of wine, chocolate, babies, good food, shopping, more wine, truffle fries, and whoopie pies (more to come on that).

i have made phenomenal Friends here in KC, but there's nothing like spending the weekend with an old friend. em is a sister to me, and although we live far apart, we remain as close as ever.

even if she has a foot fetish.

I need me some calgon...

I am a living HGTV show....without commercials, and the episodes are much longer than a 1/2 hour.

I really did LOL

This was one of those 'captcha's' (what ever the flip that means) that I had to type in, and I thought it was too funny not to share.

I've been there once or twice, I'll admit it.