10 little onesies, sitting in a row

Last night I printed out the letters for my onesie banner after much drama involving laser printers vs. inkjet and old versions of Word, but I got it done.  Then I came home and washed the onesies and hung them up to dry on my favorite drying rack.

Tonight's plan is to buy the champagne and liquor for the punch and then iron on the letters.

getting crafty!

This coming weekend I am throwing a baby shower for my best friend.  She's having twins, which, of course, makes it twice as exciting.  And I'm actually pretty excited about throwing this by myself.  I've helped throw showers before, both bridal and baby, but always as part of a group.  The last shower there were 5 of us and we were divided into committees.  On one hand, it was great because I didn't have to think about games or the RSVP list.  On the other hand, I like to have my hand in all of the details! 

Well, this time I'm making all of the decisions.  The mother-to-be decided she wanted a co-ed shower and it's going to be about 1/3 male.  So I decided to forego all games and the little prizes that go along with them.  A guy isn't going to want a scented candle, you know?  And at that last shower, it was also co-ed so the prize was a bottle of wine.  Nice, right?  Except that there were a good number of kids present and of course one won and it was a little awkward.  So instead of having this be a traditional shower that happens to have men, it's going to be an afternoon party that happens to have a baby theme.  And presents.  Have to open the presents.

The parents-to-be have painted the nursery a really pretty light green.  Very Spring-y and apparently green helps babies grow.  Plus it's gender-neutral and they are having a boy and a girl.  So I decided to go with green as my color theme.  And I'm all about decorations that can be used later.  My sister had the BRILLIANT idea of making a banner out of onesies and I'm going to have them say the twins' names.  And then maybe they can actually wear the onesies after they're born.  Each onesie will have a different letter and you know the crazy thing?  The names don't share letters.  So even though the girl's name doesn't start with R, if she's wearing the R onesie, it will still be applicable only to her.  Kinda cute.  Oooh - maybe I'll make my friend put each onesie on each baby and then we can do a collage of that or something.  Told you I was getting crafty!

I saw on Katie Brown's Workshop a doughut croquembouche and it was the cutest thing ever.  She did it with doughnut holes and strawberries and then draped ivy over the whole thing, but I think just the doughnut holes would still be pretty cute.  Especially since I just found this blog post while looking for Katie Brown.  So I bought some styrofoam cones and some clay pots.  If it ever stops raining, I'm going to paint the pots white with the leftover spray paint from my lamp project and then tie a ribbon around them.  If it doesn't stop raining, well, I think the pots in their natural color will still be pretty.

I also decided to make a wreath out of tulle.  I had bought a 12" styrofoam circle back before the by-committee baby shower but didn't end up using it.  I thought about returning it but figured I'd get some use out of it sometime.  That time is now!

I bought two rolls of tulle at Jo-Ann's and cut them into 12" strips.  Then I tied them onto the form two at a time.  I tested out double and single strips and just liked the way the double looked better.  It took about an hour and a half to cut out and tie it all on.  It was super super easy, but kind of mind-numbing and felt like it would never end.  But whenever I got discouraged, I would just hold it up and look at the fluffy tulle and get another wind.  Can't say a second wind because I did this 3 or 4 times.  Seriously mind-numbing.  But totally worth it.

I was going to hang it on my mirror to display, but that reflected the mess of my living room - Target and Jo-Ann's bags EVERYWHERE.  It doesn't show up as well on the painting, but at least you can't see the mess.  No one should have to see the mess.  Everyone should have to see my wreath.  All it needs now is a bow.  I'm horrible at tying bows, but my friend Shelly rocks at it.  And she's coming early to help me set up.  Perfect!

And yeah, the picture is awful.  I lost my camera so this was taken with my phone.

it came! it came!

Last night my house rebate came in the mail.  5 weeks after I filed.  Woo hoo!  $8,091.96.  The $91 was interest - I had no clue that I would get interest for "letting" the government hold on to my $8k for so long.  That was a nice surprise.

So now what do I do with the money?  I need to pay off some bills and secretly, I could use all of it for that.  But should I reserve some for a new couch?  A new coffee table?

Hmmm....

If I take half and put it towards bills, that would be very responsible of me and I would still have lots left over to spend on my house, like a good American.  After all, that's what the rebate is all about, right?  Putting money back into the economy.

I think I'll start out by getting my Bonnaroo posters and college degrees framed.  That'll be several hundred bucks and is something I've been meaning to do for years.  Of course, I'm still going to shop around for the best deals and scour the internet for coupons.

Then I'll price out a new couch.  And maybe see what it would cost to have my attic access either expanded or moved to the spare room so I can have a proper set of attic stairs installed.  This article says that the ladders themselves can be around $300-400 so with cutting a new hole, insulation and man hours, maybe that's around $1,000?  Not ridiculous, but not cheap.

I also think I may buy a few nice platters and serving bowls.  I never had the right ones when I entertain.  But while I want Apilco, I can probably find ones that are just fine at Marshall's or World Market.

So many decisions!

mornings

I hate the mad scramble to get ready in the morning.  I'd much rather wake up whenever my body feels like it, laze in bed reading for a while, actually cook breakfast and sit down at the table to eat it.  But my mornings are never like that.  Instead I snooze for too long and then jolt out of bed, rush through my bathroom routine and then stand paralized at my closet trying to decide what to wear.

Did I already wear that yellow top this week?  I can't remember!  Okay, I'll throw on my giraffe print dress because I know I haven't worn it in over a month.  But now I can't remember - do I wear a cami with this dress or do I pin it?  Gah - no time to pin. There's a cream cami on the floor, going with that.  What earrings should I wear?  Necklace or no necklace?  If a necklace, which one?  Can't decide, going without.  Gotta get out of the house.

I am happy to report that my new shoe system is working out nicely.  I have actually been putting my shoes back in their cubby each night and I wore a pair of closed-toe shoes the other day because I knew they were easily accessible in the bin under my bed.  Yay!  So at least finding shoes this morning was easy.

It's political season and the brain cells that I use to get dressed in the morning have been commandeered for use on work subjects.  I wake up and am immediately thinking about the schedule for the day.  It's annoying and frustrating, but a way of life for someone who works with campaigns.

What I've done before is to schedule my outfits.  I'll take inventory of my closet and come up with various outfits, figuring out everything from jewelry to undergarments to shoes.  Then I'll put it all on a calendar and tape it to the inside of my closet.  When I wake up, all I have to do is look at the calendar and pull out the correct items for that day.  It's actually great because otherwise I would just wear a t-shirt and jeans everyday - not exactly a professional look.  And I definitely work better when I'm wearing a professional outfit.  I'm less likely to procrastinate and I find it's easier to stay organized.

I also do this when I travel.  I figure out what types of outfits I'll need, how that works with what I own, if I need to fill any gaps.  Then I'll come up with the outfits - again, jewelry to shoes - and assign them to each day of my trip.  It's great for making a packing list - I do it all in Excel and then can sort and delete the duplicates.  Easiest packing list ever.

I've tried to do this when it isn't crunch-time but it doesn't work.  When I have spare brain cells, I like to use them to figure out my outfits, to be a little creative.  While I work in a creative industry, my actual job is much more Excel spreadsheets, online forms and schedules so my wardrobe and my home are my outlets.  But from Labor Day to Election Day?  I'm all about being uncreative and just powering through.

Think I'm going to spend this weekend taking inventory of my closet...