Do you want to hang around my place for awhile?

These Jamie Shelman prints are gorgeous, no? I'm picturing them in my kitchen, bringing light + color to the dreary days of January. They would make the perfect Christmas gift, or birthday gift(but my birthday is in May, much too late for January brightening). Maybe a Thanksgiving gift or some other random, surprise day where you give lovely gifts!

p.s. I'm on a sugar hiatus until the new year, except for holidays, of course. They only problem is that I keep trying to come up with holidays or reason for celebration so I can eat cookies + truffles + ice cream. I'm thinking the random, surprise day where you give(or receive!) lovely gifts would be the perfect time to celebrate with sugary sweet foods.

p.p.s. Speaking of sugary sweet, I made these snickerdoodles today, absolutely divine! And Sela can't for the life of her remember how to say 'snickerdoodle'....sneakerpoodles, puddlesqueaks, snideypups, kickerdoods...hilarious, my friends, hilarious.

Jamie Shelman's prints seen on Mrs. French's lovely blog, Bliss.

Not Peter Pan and Wendy, not even Captain Hook

tiger lily + smee(a really really chubby smee).

Sela's costume was my VERY FIRST sewing project. I kept asking my teacher(who is 84! and so awesome) if I could just make a pillowcase instead. She said no, and I'm so glad she did! It feels satisfying to create something with my hands, especially after spending hours pouring over projects on a computer. A tangible finished project is a good good thing.

I hope you all had a wonderful + happy Halloween!

ps check out these Crocodile + Captain Hook cuties on Brooke's blog, Inchmark.

Pretty Pretty

Sela, Graham, and I are attempting to make this lovely mobile today. Sela is busy putting buttons in various tins, ziplock baggies, and paper cups, and informing me that today she is only peeing on the carpet, Graham has his hand down my shirt and is blowing raspberries, and I've made 1 1/2 tissue paper flowers. I'm beginning to think this is going to turn into a long winter project...

In the meantime, you can check out more gorgeous photos + info on these pretty mobiles here, here, and here.

These photos came from Sarah at The Small Object, her blog(and everything else she does) is lovely, go take a peek!

Have I Told You Lately....

that I'm taking a sewing class? I LOVE it. A lot. And I have this lovely lady + her adorable littles to thank.

what I'm being for Halloween?

that I'm feeling fancy?


that she's back? She's all things magic + lovely + perfectly written, and I couldn't be happier to read her posts again. truly, truly.


that when Brian + I were dating, I wore pretty flowers in my hair + pinned to my jackets? And then his whole family made fun of me + I kind of became a hippie, so I stopped. I'm thinking it's time to start rockin' the big wild rose.



that I have the cutest, cuddliest, chubbiest baby in the world? We are so happy to have him.

ps I realize this photo looks kind of awful, but I promise I only left him in there as long as it takes to go to the bathroom(and take a picture, of course). Oh, and the laundry is clean. I think.

"Happy Birthday! Sela's A Big Sister!"

Sela's pretty big on birthdays and being a big sister lately, so when she watched me assembling Graham's birth announcements of course she assumed it was all about her. and birthdays.

Oh, to be 2 again.

Here is a digital mock-up of the announcement:



I printed this on nice textured cardstock, attached the photo with photo corners, rounded the corners, wrapped a bit of red + white baker's twine around it, stuck it in a glassine envelope, and sealed it with a red label. Very quick, very easy.

P.S. If you are on B's side of the family and have yet to receive an announcement, I am truly sorry. I'm in the middle of a grand see -how-long it-takes-to-get-addresses-without-incessant-nagging-or-doing-it-myself experiment. It's been almost 4 weeks. Maybe passive-aggressive nagging will work?

Daddy-O

(click to enlarge).

My dad is at it again! The annual "Dinner on the Pond" starts this Saturday evening and is sure to be a great time! If you are interested in an evening of delicious food, great company, and beautiful scenery, click here and join us!

i really really really want this...

really.

If you just so happen to be in the business of making my wildest dreams come true, you can buy it here.

Special Birthday Quilt

Is it lame to blog about something I did 5 months ago?

Probably. Oh, well.


So Sela turned 2 in April, and for months I agonized over the perfect gift. Something to treasure, something sweet, something handmade, and something not emblazoned with Disney princesses. Luckily i remembered this little gem of an idea spotted on The Small Object around Christmas time. Simply type up a letter in Photoshop in the dimensions of your quilt(mine was 1 yard by 2 yards) + follow a few tips from Spoonflower, upload your design, and in 2 weeks you have a sweet note ready to line the inside of a special birthday quilt for a very special birthday girl.



And since I'm the nosiest person I know, and it almost killed me not knowing what Sarah's letter said, I'm including my letter to Sela for any fellow snoops out there:

My Dearest Sela,

As I look at you now, there is only a whisper of the wrinkly newborn face that peered into my own and changed my heart forever. Your chubbies have long since gone and your wobbly legs have grown strong and sure. You are a marvel. An absolute wonder. You are full of every good, wonderful, and lovely thing I have ever known or could have hoped for. You're beautiful, brave, and true; always stubborn, endlessly determined, with a heart open to the whole wide world.

Happy Birthday to you, baby girl.

Misses, wishes, and kisses. Love, Mama

P.S. Always remember: "I carry your heart(I carry it in my heart)"

hello, world...

Graham Emery Swan was born at home on July 17th. He weighed 8 lbs.(!!!) and was 20 inches long. His birth was absolutely beautiful. Fast, peaceful, gentle, and in my very own bathtub. He is quiet, sleepy, and incredibly curious. We love him to the moon-y moon moon(as Sela would say).


This little guy has changed every aspect of our life so far and we are still trying to find our footing. The adjustment has been the hardest for Sela, and my heart broke 100 times a day for the first few weeks as I watched her struggle with her new world. She would look at me like I was a traitor, her eyes quietly saying, "remember when you said you loved me the most? remember when you rocked me and kissed me and every second of every day was spent building a special little place in the world for just you and me?" I would cry and hold my beautiful daughter, so sorry that this is so hard to understand, so sorry she had to accept a new place in our family, and so sorry that things would never ever be the same.

But we are working it out. Everyday is getting a little better, easier.

The other evening as I watched Graham snoozing on Brian's chest, curled up and content, and my naked 2 year old running around my disaster of living room with her imaginary friends, Lilo and Stitch, I couldn't believe how much I love this messy, crazy life. Even with leaky boobs and this stretched out, exhausted body, I am happy.


How lucky we are to open our bodies, hearts, and lives just a little more, and surrender to change and the temporary insanty, all for the sake of love.

p.s. a few of you have asked about the new blog, For The Littles. It's mostly just to help me remember what I want to get the kiddos for Christmas and the like. You're welcome to take a peek, but I can't promise that it will be exciting or regularly updated.

Mama needs some pretties...

and I'm loving everything from this shop.

via Design Mom

A Belly Full of Boy

These are the photos I'm using for a little project I'm doing for my sweet baby boy, and I'm really excited about how they turned out!

All photos by my mama.

Homebirth

****This post is in no way meant to be an attack on the choices you've made or the choices you will make concerning your body/baby/birth. I feel that women are the first to criticize how other women have chosen to give birth + parent, and I hope that I can convey my experiences in a supportive and loving way, while still presenting alternative, safe options for childbirth.****

My friend and midwife, Briana, posted these videos this morning, and I just had to share. I had my daughter, Sela, at home two years ago and I am planning a home birth for this sweet baby, also.

Home birth with a skilled, professional midwife is a safe option for a normal healthy pregnancy. Pregnancy and birth are not emergencies. Pregnancy and birth are not illnesses. Pregnancy and birth are natural, normal experiences that are uniquely feminine and hold a great amount of influence in a woman's life and our societies as a whole.

I recently finished Sheila Kitzinger's book, Rediscovering Birth, an anthology of the birth cultures found worldwide, and I couldn't help but mourn the lack of birth rituals in our culture, and how little respect we have for women and their roles as life creating, life carrying, and life bringing individuals. In the midwifery model of care you are in charge of your body and the things that happen to it during the prenatal, labor, and postpartum stages. You are empowered, supported and treated as an equal partner, you "manage" your birth.

I hope that you enjoy these videos, they are full of happy people with happy, healthy birth stories...

Guess Who's Turning Two....

Hello, friends! How are you?

I'm peeking in to show you all the shenanigans we've been up to...



Can I just be 2 again for a single day?
please?

p.s. I totally stole the kickin' party hat idea from Jordan

p.p.s. I totally missed you guys!

It's time to say goodbye...

I will miss sharing the little bits of my every day with all of you, but it's time to move on. Time for something new. Time to do more and blog less. And have a baby....in July. Crazy, right? It seems that all I want to do these days is play with my daughter, rest, make good food, and not blog. So that is exactly what I'm going to do.

Thanks for reading + sharing so much with me. I will miss you.

Goodbye, my friends!

Resolutions

One of my New Year's resolutions is to prepare healthy and more frequent meals at home. We usually eat pretty healthy around here, but I really want to focus on whole, unprocessed foods and try to put a more conscience effort into eating locally and starting my own garden of heirloom vegetables.

The February issue of Bon Appetit is full of great tips, recipes and recommended reads...50 of them, to be exact.

Here are a few books that caught my eye:


Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating
By Mark Bittman

Read a great review here


Edible Estates: Attack On the Front Lawn
By Fritz Haeg

check out the projects here.

If I were to do it all again.....

I would love these kissy, cuddly, red balloon-y engagement photos.

There are a bunch more, so check them out here!

via Cup of Jo
photos by Max Wagner

A Review

Whew! What a great two weeks! We spent time with family, made some fondue, ate lots and lots of German food (mostly German cookies), flipped through new magazines, made resolutions, spent an obscene amount of time in our pajamas, and "cooked" a million gazillion meals with Sela's new pots and pans + dishes. You haven't lived until you've tried Honey Nut Cheerio, alligator, rock, chocolate frosting, and lemon soup....seriously.

Christmas is so fun with little kids. It seems that as soon as you become disenchanted with the holidays, you have have children and everything is magic again.

How were your holidays?

photo via all the luck in the world, spotted on abbey goes design scouting

Charmed

I think these photographs by Sharon Montrose are gorgeous and hysterical at the same time. That spunky goat makes me laugh out loud, the owl looks so breathtakingly wise, and that baby deer? So sweet.

But it's this old guy...

that makes my heart oh-so-happy. Who knew reindeer were so charming?

I hope all of you have a safe, wonderful, and happy holiday season this year!

see you soon!

xoxo

Rachel

Anna Kern

Anna Kern's photography is just lovely....I LOVE that lemon print bedding.

via desire to inspire...of course :)

Fancy + Festive

I am loving this post by Victoria over at sfgirlbybay, it makes me want to put on a twirly dress, shimmery shadows, glistening gloss, and bangles to my elbow.

photo by Beklina

Liar Liar Pants On Fire....

That's me. So sorry...

Our internet is finicky(at best) these days, especially during blizzards, and our camera is dead...forever( I think). So the long anticipated (by me) kitchen reveal was completely and utterly ruined, not to mention all of Sela's Christmas memories this year will be undocumented. Here's hoping for a decent tax return, eh?

Anyway, here are a few things that have been a buzzin' around my brain lately.....


Blonde Redhead's rockin' pad


Christmas...naturally
Checks + pretty shoes
A giant Shiitake Mushroom log spotted on In(side) the Loop: Gift Guide


Not exactly Zeppelin, but a pretty awesome album all around.


Well, there you have it, randomness at it's very best!

From now on, I'm going to be peeking in a little more often, I promise :)

A Bloggity Blog Post

I'm still here! Well, kind of...

In the last month we've moved, painted our new apartment, been sicky sick, and have been busy preparing for Christmas. I've had waaaaaaaaaaaay too much on plate and had to let something slide, so it was either blogging or showering. Yuck, right?

Also, I ran out of ideas + worthwhile inspiration to share, and that makes blogging impossible.

But the good news is that I'm back and I have lots to share! Sela's kitchen is mostly finished and there are so many wonderful images + ideas that I can't wait to post.

I'm excited to be back in the swing of things and to catch up on what you've all been up to!

Check back tomorrow for Sela's Kitchen Makeover!

brilliant image via ffffound!

Frenchie

I bought this book over the weekend and I can't get enough of the gorgeous photos + sweet observations of French life. My favorite chapter is Le Femmes, which is devoted to beautiful French women and the importance of surrounding yourself with beautiful things.

I want to be French. Seriously.

Chalkboards + Pink + Totally Random

I absolutely love this.

more gorgeous photos here.

Samantha Hahn and Her Lovely Ladies

Samantha Hahn's girlies are exceptionally gorgeous, don't you think?

I'm in process of locating a print of the top one, Dancing Girl, because my very own girlie thinks those girlies are so very special. And I couldn't agree more.