Home Sweet Home

When I was in Utah all of our family kept bugging me how I never posted pictures of our apartment on the blog like I said I would. It is still a work in progress but it is a definite improvement from what it was when we moved in. This is our t.v. room, which could be used as a second bedroom but we figured babies start out small so we could put it to better use.
Another view of the t.v.room and the french doors into the bedroom.
Our entry and console table
Our bedroom, you can't tell from these photos but our bedroom is huge so well have plenty of room in there for a crib and whatever else the little one needs. If you ever visited us at our old apartment you will know how much we appreciate this big bedroom.
Another view of our bed.
Our front room and view of the kitchen. We love the green color we painted on the walls in this room.
Our front room with the kitchen table and huge empty walls. I really need to come up with something to fill this room up!
Our little kitchen, we love the black and white tile.

Our extra counter space and storage we added in.

Dwell studio for Target

A bunch of you asked where the pink and blue rompers in my last post could be found. You will die when you discover that they are by Dwell Studio for Target and only $9.99. the rest of the collection is cute too, I recommend checking it out in store, but just so you know when I went a lot of the stuff was sold out. This cute brown and white blanket is one of my other favorites from the collection, and it is only $14.99. Great for baby gifts.

You can browse online here

just in case you were wondering

Dan and I are anxiously waiting to find out if we are having a boy or a girl, but fortunately we don't have to wonder anymore because our niece Abby cleared that up for me. According to her, we are having a girl named Sara and boy named Shark, when I asked her if Shark was the name of a fish she said, "no, no, shark is your baby"

Good to know.

maternity clothes

Let me start by saying I have issues with maternity clothes. Therefore I am halfway convinced that I would like to try to get through my pregnancy buying as few "maternity" items as possible, and instead search out items other places that are cut a little more roomy. So far I have had pretty good luck finding things I think will work, at least I am hoping they will be able to last until August. Forever 21 has been great for tops and a lot of the chain stores have more blousy tops as part of their spring lines.

The thing that bothers me most about the maternity wear out there is that it seems like the affordable stuff is not cute and really bad quality and the cute stuff is ridiculously expensive. I seriously want to start my own company and make affordable, cute, decent quality maternity wear because so far I am not convinced it exists. Oh and the sizing is all weird too.

Anyway, this is what lead me to latest project. I have lots of pants I like and I wear all the time, and I decided that rather than buy items I don't like to wear while I am pregnant, I'd rather take items that I do like and make them work, and buy new stuff after I am pregnant, hence my first pair of maternity pants. This was so easy, but if you are not the crafty type, I am pretty sure you can take any pair of pants to a tailor and they can convert them for you. Here is the step by step.

1. Choose the pants.

I took a pair of my favorite J. Crew White boot cut jeans. These were one of my favorites last summer and I thought I could get a lot of pregnancy wear out of them.

2. Remove the waistband

Next I carefully removed the waistband with a seam picker. I was surprised how easy this came off, and according to some other sources a tailor could add this back on later post pregnancy.

3. Determine what kind of waistband you want.

Once I cleaned out all the little threads I was ready to make my waistband. I recommend buying either cotton Lycra or spandex from your fabric store. Depending on your waist size, a 1/2 yard should be enough to do at least one, possibly two waistbands. There are a few ways to construct the waistband so if you have a favorite pair of maternity pants already, look at how their waist band was made or go to your local maternity store and study their waistbands to look at options. I myself opted for a cotton Lycra one that I could fold over now and would give me plenty of coverage once the belly starts to swell. You can decided if you want to sew in an elastic band at the top or not. I opted not to because I don't like things too tight around my waist. The thickness of the waist band will depend on how high you want it to come up, once again look at other maternity pants for options. Measure your belly at the widest part now, and remember your belly will stretch but so will the fabric. Give your self a little extra room, but be careful not to cut it more than a few inches larger because you don't want your pants falling down.

4. Construct the waist band.

Once you have your fabric cut to the measurement of our waist +2/3 inches, fold inside out and sew along edge twice, once with a straight stitch and again with a zigzag stitch or serger if you have one, to finish the edge. Make sure the seam is tight and test it by stretching the fabric. Depending on what kind of waist band you elected to do, you will either sew in elastic at the the top of the waistband at this point, or if you are making them like I did, turn the waistband right side out (you will want the total thickness of the waistband to be about 12-18 inches if you are doing this type and fold half into the inside of the circle so that you have two layers of fabric.

5. Attach to pants

Depending on your sewing skills, this will be either an easy step of the process, or the tricky part, but either way, definitely doable. Line the unfinished edges of the waist band up with the exposed edges of your pant so that the waist band is around the waist of the band almost like a belt. Being careful to match up the edges sew a straight stitch along the edge giving about a 1/4 inch- 1/2 inch selvage. Once you have sewn all the way around, finish the selvage with either a zigzag stitch or by serging the exposed selvage. Double check that once again the seams are tight and strong and voila! Here you have you very own maternity pants, sure to be cuter than anything you could buy at the store and they only cost you about $5 in fabric and 1/2 hour of your time.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, I may start a new blog with some of my non maternity but wearable with pregnant belly fashion finds if any of you would be interested.

*blouse and seersucker pants from Gap maternity

*white denim jeans from J. Crew

things I love this week...

1. Being in Utah and seeing the mountains

2. Long talks with old friends

3. Playing princesses with my niece Abby

4. Driving

5. Seeing Robert Redford on my flight to Salt Lake

6. Family- lunches, dinners, birthdays, errands, talks and hugs

7. Breakfast with my Dad and Aunties

8. Missing the huge snowstorm in NY-I am ready for Spring!!!!

lullabye

I'm in Utah right now for a couple days and I can't sleep, I can only conclude it is because I miss Dan and it feels weird sleeping in a twin bed again all by myself! Anyhow, Utah has been grand and it has been fun to spend some time with my nearest and dearest and be reminded why and how much I love each and every one of them. I swear my tummy has grown 3 sizes since Tuesday when I left New york, but maybe it is just my imagination.

Each and every day I have been here I have been wishing I knew what I was having since Utah is a mecca for all things kids/baby and I still haven't bought a single thing for the little babe since gender neutral things are pretty hard to come by. Anyhow, one thing I have had my eye on is Pottery Barn Kids new pique bedding. I lean toward the simple and classic with a little bit of flair (hence my love for J. Crew) and I think this bedding would be adorable mixed in with a fun bright pattern. Either way I am thinking some items from this line will make it into baby's bed. Boy or girl the bright green is my absolute favorite!

P.S. Did you know you can take any pair of pants and make them maternity pants and it is not that hard? With my next post I will show you how. 

a full heart!

Thanks for all the love and well wishes regarding the baby. I haven't yet decided how I feel about posting pictures of my growing belly on the blog, but when I come to a conclusion I'll let you know, right now though, there is still not too much to see. I think in part of my brain I am still in total denial about the reality of being a mom and bringing that baby home from the hospital, but I think that is part of the reason this is a 9 month process.

I wish I could say I will steer away from baby centric posts for a while, but I know I can't promise that, what I will promise is that I will try to continue to post a variety of goodies including now all of the adorable baby junk that I find. Which speaking of.... Remember a couple of months ago when I told you about Threads, by Pottery Barn Kids? Well lucky for you they do sell some of the items they carry in store on the PBK Website, so I strongly suggest you check it out. I've had my eye on these merino onsies for a while and they are now on sale for only $19.99 + free shipping! There are lots of other sale goodies to be found too, and the easter stuff is adorable!

Happy Valentine's Day! Go do something nice for someone you love!!!

Happy Birthday Dan

Today is the birthday of my favorite person in the whole wide world, Dan. I'm not going to go on and on and gush about him because that is exactly the sort of thing that would embarrass him to death, but I sure am grateful I get to share every day with my best friend!

our cute little valentines

We sent out a few valentines this year to family and friends and I loved how they turned out so much I just had to share them!

Happy Birthday Molly

So I have missed a few birthdays in between december and January, but I couldn't let Molly's birthday go by without wishing her a wonderfully happy day. Molly is one of my nearest and dearest friends from high school and I am sure we will always be friends. She adds such a sparkle and pizazz to any group and in high school she was always the one to stir up fun and mischief. She has had a big year this last year with the birth of her darling daughter Ruby so I am sure this year will be tough to top but I know molly will make the most of it. Happy Birthday Molly!

A little bit of romance...

That is right folks, v-day is fast approaching and lucky for you I got a head start on my brainstorming since Dan's birthday is tomorrow so in case you haven't given it a moments thought, maybe I can steer you in the right direction with some affordable and creative ideas to wow your sweetie.

On that note, this month is Oscar month on the Turner Classic Movie channel, which means all month long they are showing classic movies, some of which will b sure to knock your socks off. Dan and watched Casablanca the other night and he was pleasantly impressed with it. There is something so romantic about black and white in a foreign country, and a complicated love triangle. This definitely gets my recommendation for a romantic v-day flick, and you'll feel very sophisticated not having settled for another chick flick. This classic just might stir your interest to check out some of the others on TCM this month.

Now to food. I tend to hate dealing with the restaurant crowds on V-day, so I either recommend going an alternate night, or if you have the option, staying in and cooking together. Our own v-day menu is a little bit of a surprise for Dan, but if your not a chef you can't go wrong with a classic plate of pasta, which if you have ever seen lady and the tramp is sure to spell romance. Our night will definitely include making chocolate covered strawberries as well.

Gifts....this can be tricky, especially at the last minute, but to let you know where I stand on this I told Dan the other day that if he ever brought me home a box of chocolates on Valentine's day I would throw them out the window. What can I say, I guess I am tough to please. Anyhow, the best gift for your sweetie is going to be something you think of that is personal between you, so even though it might take a bit of work for your little brain, think long and hard about what would mean something to them, I am sure you will come up with something.

Tell me these little baby tights from The Gap are not the cutest things you have ever seen!

a little valentine cheer

I finished my little valentine project and it makes me smile every time I look at it. I spotted this idea in one of the my favorite neighborhood haunts, the corner bakery, and I knew I wanted to try it at home. They had one of these strung across the entire room and it was so adorable.

Birthday plans

It is this adorable guys birthday next week and I need to plan something stellar for him since his b.day happens to be the day before Valentine's day. I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve but I would love to hear about surprises/ideas/traditions you have done to make things like b.days, anniversaries etc. special for your BF or Hubby. Dan is the greatest and I really want to make his birthday memorable this year and show him how much I love, adore and appreciate him. I couldn't ask for anything more.

pink and red all over

I'm in the midst of a little project that I'll hopefully finish tomorrow, for now, it's remnants are all over my kitchen table and making our home feel wonderfully like valentines!

My Breakthrough!!!

I have always had the dream of writing my own book. Well that dream may be some distance off, but I am getting closer. You see I did some research for Keith McFarland's new book, 'The Breakthrough Company'. Allow me to quote from the source

"Thanks also to....Dan Creer, whose tireless energy and great questions pushed us to create and implement a rigorous research model."

This is one of the coolest things to have happened to me, to see my name in print, so help make it a huge success by picking up your copy today!