Fairy Clothes: Another Tribute to the Magic Cardigan.

Here's another look at the "magic cardigan." This is from about a year ago when I taught classes last summer. The little ivory buttons in the ruffles on the tank top match the cardigan. These gray and cream heels are not comfortable (I probably couldn't even get them on right now), but boy, are they pretty. I haven't used this bag lately as it's big, and I always fill up a big bag, but I love it. It cost $30, looks far more expensive, and has a zip-up laptop sleeve.

Skirt: The Limited

Tank: Ann Taylor Loft

Cardigan: Ann Taylor Loft

Earrings: Target

Heels: Nine West

Work Bag: Target (Merona)

Maternity Fairy Clothes: Rosewood.

Summer classes are coming to a close, but the paperwork is just getting started for me. And in just over a week, I'll be back to figuring out comfortable, professional, and (hopefully) cute outfits every day...which is a bit harder with the belly.

I'm grateful for every pair of flats I own since I've stepped away from heels for the duration. My mom got me these a couple of years ago. Apparently, they are an imitation of some fancy design.

I love the layers of this necklace even though I have to be careful to avoid serious tangling. The two short white pearl strands were originally one long strand which broke the first time I wore the necklace (I leaned down to get something out of my work bag, and the strand caught on the arm of my chair...pearls everywhere). I restrung them as two strands on elastic thread.

I spent an unusual amount of money on this cardigan. In the dressing rooms, my mom and I called it "the magic cardigan" because it made every outfit look fabulous and special.

Oliver in a pink bubble.

Prepare for more outfit posts as the new semester begins! I hope I'll manage to keep my clothes interesting...far more for my own sake than anyone else's.

Maternity Capris: Motherhood

Tank: Ann Taylor Loft

Cardigan: Ann Taylor Loft

Necklace: Ann Taylor Loft

Flats: Target

Artful Clutter.

 (Image: http://weheartit.com/entry/9835385)

My home style is certainly cluttered. I have several reasons for this.

1. I like to know, by looking at any corner or surface, that a house is my home.
2. I like a lot of stuff.
3. I tend to be messy.
4. For me, mildly cramped equals cozy.

The mere title of A Perfectly Kept House is the Sign of A Misspent Life: How to live creatively with collections, clutter, work, kids, pets, art, etc... and stop worrying about everything being perfectly in its place by Mary Randolph Carter is very validating for me. It's on my Amazon wish list, and if I ever get it, I will lovingly add it to a teetering book stack until I get to it. 


Josh has very little stuff besides books. He regularly purges his clothes with a vengeance, taking any excess to Goodwill. I've saved his high school notebooks from the trash. So it's strange that's he's content to live with me. He says, though, that he loves seeing my stuff everywhere. 

 (Image: http://mysteriesofthecosmos.tumblr.com/page/6)

Getting settled in a new place takes me a while because if I don't find places for everything the first time, I never will. A junk corner a month after I move in will remain a junk corner a year later. A good set-up (by my definition) to start with at least provides a mold for my messes to conform to, more or less. I plan to share some photos of the house with you once I crystallize it (that plan is giving me some motivation to get going despite my desire to lounge incessantly while I can). 


I love how every house we've had ends up with a different system of organization and decor. It's not just because we gain and lose stuff and furniture. Of course, the changing size of our homes has something to do with it--two bedroom duplex to one-bedroom apartment to three-bedroom house to two-bedroom duplex to five-bedroom house to two-bedroom house. The vignettes morph. The poetry books don't stay on the same shelf. The pictures move. The cabinet that held stationery holds cosmetics and then holds candles, soap, and Wallflowers. The plastic drawers that held office supplies hold cardigans. The desk that held inks and pens is now a vanity. The bistro table moves from kitchen to balcony to sunroom to dining room to canning room to side porch. It's a fun evolution. 

Sometimes, I see Josh smiling at a pile of stuff on or next to my side of the bed--books, pens, notebooks, little projects. He seems to be memorizing the collage even as it annoys him. 

Is your clutter out in the open, or do you have secret treasure stashes?

(Image: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/li)

For His Jouney.

 (Image: http://nowheresafefromthestorm.tumblr.com/page/3)

In my last journal, I started a list of qualities or traits I want to help Oliver develop...little wonder-tools to carry with him, the kinds of items a fairy godmother might give a child to sustain him through a long journey. I wrote down several items and then asked Josh to add more. I'm thinking about putting the list up somewhere so that we can always remember what we want to give him or help him find.

*Self-worth
*Responsibility
*Bubbling joy
*Curiosity
*Fascination with books
*Body confidence
*Wonder
*Hope
*Basic, daily life skills
*Courage
*Empowerment
*Sense of opporutnity
*Internal locus of control

~Compassion
~Safety of mind
~Reason
~Intellectual honesty
~Aspects of human endeavor
~Creativity
~A sense of duty to his fellow man
~An open interest
~Humility
~Peace
~A sense of being connected to all things, distant or near

If only, like Tumnus with his packages for tea or Father Christmas with his strange presents, we could hand these to him or pack them in a basket with cinnamon biscuits and apples before we have to send him out into any bit of the world.

 (Image: http://bring-on-the-dancing-lobsters.tumblr.com/)

An Afternoon.

It's a gloomy afternoon. I've taken a nap and finished my Dr. Pepper of the day. I have reports to edit, but I've been reading an essay called "That Sunday" in Adam Gopnik's Through the Children's Gate. It's about Sunday at the Village Vanguard, an album born of a jazz trio gig at a jazz club in the '60s. I hadn't heard of it, so I had Josh look up a couple of songs on YouTube. "Alice in Wonderland" is tinkling along with the live sounds of '60s jazz club chatter, flirting, and wine glasses as Josh and I lounge against a sage green velour body pillow under apple green sheets. The thunder has just begun its muttering.

Preparations.

 (Image: http://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/2/346736345)

A blue baby tub is hanging on the back of my bathroom door.

The grandparent bed is piled with gift bags and giant boxes. This is thanks to my mom and stepfather loading up their truck and stopping at our house--we never would have fit all that in my car!

About ten moving boxes remain in the house.

On Sunday, we worked on the house, cleaned out the cars, and went grocery shopping. We bought various Tupperware containers: one to hold bottles of milk in the freezer, one to hold thawing bottles in the fridge, one to hold clean bottles in the designated cabinet, and one to hold extra nipples and rings and such. I realized that having all that toppling over would be a disaster. Josh would open the cabinet, and bottles would fall on his head. Milk storage containers would roll around and get lost in the freezer. Organizing all that felt nice. Closer to time, we'll boil everything.

I also worked on the breast pump. Our skittish little lady cat took up shelter in the box. I put batteries (eight AAs!) in the battery pack and stocked the backpack with extra batteries, wet-erase markers for dates, bra pads, and cream (a tiny sample came with the pump). A pocket on the back will hold a book. I'm building at extra half hour a day into my work schedule, and I will not be checking E-mails while I pump. Josh will probably have to feed Oliver three or four times during the day. I hope I can keep up. I plan to get a jump start during my three-week leave (I'll be three months shy of a year at my school, so no FMLA for me). We'll get some formula too as a back up. I just added a case of Similac Nursettes and disposable nipples to our Amazon registry...they will be quick and easy when Josh runs out of my milk (he'd already be in a panic), or we're in some sort of bind.

 (Image: http://styleandstarbucks.tumblr.com/post/6081590430)

I found cute green baby-themed thank you notes at Wal-mart and bought stamps...I plan to knock those out this week. Next week will be a bit wild since summer grades are due on Thursday. And then...time to return to work for real. I won't think about that just yet.

I'm anxious to get the house and as much baby prep as possible done before then because I know so little will actually happen after that. Organization will crystallize; corner messes will fossilize. Until I got back from the shower and looked at the house anew, I didn't realize just how much I still have to do. Luckily, Josh is keeping the laundry, dishes, sweeping, litter box, and other daily bits under control while I figure all this out. You know what is soothing when you feel overwhelmed? Alan Rickman reading Shakespeare.

Is his voice not perfect? I fell a bit in love with him as Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility. I imagined watching all my favorite movies this summer, but I haven't even been reading well. Well, I have few seated classes this fall, so I'll be able to spend lots of time in my office and bring less work home. That should help me make time for Little Women and I Capture the Castle and reading at least a few of the books in the towering stacks by my bed. I survived the busy and nauseous (new job+first trimester=madness) spring semester by reading for hours on the weekend. Going back to Alan Rickman: ALA has a "Read" poster of him with Catcher in the Rye. I need that for my office. Going back to Sense and Sens: I always identified with Marianne. I certainly had a Willoughby or two. I like how Elinor becomes more in touch with her heart while Marianne becomes a bit more calm and can appreciate real, steadfast love.

(Image: http://mmorrow.tumblr.com/post/4867334800/sense-and-sensibility-1995)

 (Image: http://www.coralsbridal.com/blog/166/wedding-dresses-in-movies-%E2%80%94%E2%80%94-part-2/)

Going back to thank you notes and letters: I realized while unpacking two boxes that the drawers in Josh's big desk are no match for my stationery collection. I've long assured myself that I would have several devoted penpals and use all those gorgeous cards. It may yet happen, but I've definitely disappeared from the mailbox over the last couple of years.

We got to relive the shower a bit on Saturday night with a plate of leftovers that Susan made (more for the purpose of me not starving to death on the drive home. I made it, though). We shared the fruit, cheese, and cupcakes while I ate the mini chicken salad sandwich, and Josh made quick work of the pasta salad. After the shower feast, brown rice bowls with corn, boiled egg, and Parmesan on Sunday were humble but still very satisfying. When I got hungry before bed, I filled a bowl with black grapes, three strawberries, and a tiny plum. I'd never had plums before, and I want to try new fruits while my palette is so accepting of them. Monday kept me busy with a telephone and web training session and grading, but I made banana nut muffins using Martha White Whole Grain mix. I added extra walnuts (I love them!) and dark chocolate chips. Oh, those muffins were sublime. I could make them every day this week. We had a lovely dinner of fruit and scrambled eggs with asparagus and crumbled goat cheese (bacon bits for me; soy bits and hot sauce for him). Mmm.

(I know it looks like green eggs and ham, but it's delicious. Really)

Shower the Babies You Love with Love.

After our brief banishment, we returned to a transformed house.

Baby boy balloons were everywhere. I remember being obsessed with the tiny plastic babies, safety pins, and bottles for shower decor when I was little. Could I really be having my own baby shower?

This lemonade was delectable. I had to check to make sure it wasn't spiked. Susan had also supplied me with mini Dr. Pepper cans.

The food presentation was still in progress. Sarah's boyfriend, Adam, is a chef, and he was happily busy slicing and arranging. These adorable little signs awaited.

A cupcake tower (gasp!) and a platter of favors (egg-shaped Jordan almonds with "nesting" feathers on the boxes) were first to grace the confetti-strewn table. I've eaten many grand meals at this table as well as lots of casual, chatty pizza dinners.

That's in honor of our baby. Three people at the shower mentioned this blog. I think it's pretty cool that something I started for funsies helps our family stay connected to us and know us.

Here are beautiful caprese kabobs (grape tomatoes and mozzarella) beside a photo of Josh and Sarah as littles.

Little shrimp with cocktail sauce curled beside caprese on ciabatta bread (grape tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, oil, and basil). I remember one Christmas in the mountains. Josh and I arrived at night after everyone else. Susan made simple pizza from scratch, and as she did so, she cut me a piece of fresh mozzarella. Oh my. I hadn't had it before. Is the taste or the texture more magical? In any case, this veggie head item (Sarah is a vegetarian as well, so the spread had a nice balance) may have been my favorite.

My mom said that these lime cups appeared to be pregnant with lots of berry babies.

Cracker, cheese, and grape goodness.

Aren't single-color M&Ms sweet? I swiped this precious sign.

 Yes, those are tiny baby footprints on the mints.

Susan did assure us that this would not be a "nuts and mints" party, but we didn't see this coming. The nutty bruschetta didn't appear in the photos, but oh my.

Near the center are little chicken salad sandwiches. I couldn't believe anything was left for seconds.

These are just some of the gifts. After the feast, Josh and I settled into the designated chairs (lemonade on hand for my powerful thirst) and got started.

Oliver is going to be a well-dressed little man.

*Zach's (Josh's brother's) girlfriend, Tina: navy Polo onesie, a Polo shirt, Polo khaki shorts, and sporty socks.

*Grammy and Grampy: tiny red high tops, turtle onesies, a monkey outfit, and several little funny phrase body suits.

*Sarah and her boyfriend, Adam: "muscles" octopus onesie, Mickey onesie, and rock and roll themed socks.

*Hannah, Josh's cousin: navy onesie with leggings.

*Judy (Josh's aunt) and her son, Caleb: sock set, fall color and monkey-themed onesies with leggings, and tiny monkey sandals all in that cute Dr. Seuss bag.

*Zach: tiny Nike hat.

Oliver will have warm little feet. The clothes range from newborn to nine months, so he'll be set for a while! I have a lot of tiny laundry to do, and I can't wait to organize the clothes by size in the wardrobe drawers.

(Image: http://www.topit.me/item/901379)

He also got some fun little bits and totally necessary items.

*Grammy and Grampy: Pooh teething ring, rubber duckie, baby lotion, and four packages of diapers in various sizes (one N, two 1, and one 2). 

*Marmee and Papa: super fancy breast pump (I was so scared no one would buy this since it's very expensive and very awkward...cue Mama! I had Josh open this. Now, I can feed my baby after I go back to work), bra pads, milk storage and freezing containers, and a set of five bottles. A surprise: the adorable Twilight Turtle! He projects stars onto the ceiling. Josh and I had swooned over him in a magazine and then saw him with Mom at Target. She remembered! She also found something astonishing at Michaels: little items (tiny tissue box, emery boards, notepad, and cards) with a new Mary Engelbreit design of a curly-headed baby boy riding a seahorse. "It's Oliver," she said. It absolutely is, and we nearly died of the cuteness. We also must find every available product with the image. See him here.

(Image: http://www.cloudb.com/ssandf/turtle.html)

*Katie, Josh's cousin: a pre-decorated photo scrapbook. All we have to do is slip in the photos! That will be easy for the bleary days, weeks, and months following our little prince's arrival.

*Rachel, Josh's cousin: a precious plush baby Tigger.

*Grandpa and Patty (Greg's dad and his wife): a beautiful black and white high chair which will look so nice with the black table and chairs.

*Sarah and Adam: a blue baby tub, complete with bath toys and a thermometer. Squeal.

*Grandmom and Granddaddy (Susan's parents): the convertible carseat Oliver will use until he weighs 65 pounds and moves to a booster.

*Grammy and Grampy: a super play yard with a bassinet and changing station. This will be beside our bed and will be Oliver's sleeping spot until I return to work (or later, depending on his daddy's cooperation). It has little bees on it.

So we can now feed, dress, transport, change, bathe, and tuck in (not literally, of course) our baby. Basically all the big items are set except the crib mattress and bedding. The other most important items are the nursing pillow, the Boppy, the diaper...disposer?, the monitor, the bottle sterilizer (that no dishwasher issue makes it important!), and the adorable Puj, which makes bathing tiny babies in the sink easy (Josh keeps saying "But what about the Puj?? We need it!" I think the adorable baby on the product page and the fact that the word is so fun to say may contribute to his anxiety. We're probably saying it wrong anyway). I also want to make sure we have a coat for Oliver since he'll be just a few months old when the cold settles in (I registered for this one). But thanks to our incredibly generous family, we've reached the point that we have very few "There's no way we could ever buy that" absolute necessities. Isn't the number of items a tiny creature needs amazing? And that's not counting all the fun or convenient bits like swings and doorway jumpers.

Mom is planning the Charlotte shower with church friends for the end of next month. I'm amazed at how much people (and how many people) want to support us and welcome our baby. Now, I just need to go to Target and get some of those achingly cute baby shower thank you cards I've always wanted to buy because they were so clearly baby shower, and I thought I'd never have a baby shower.

(Image: http://lapetitefleurdelondres.blogspot.com/2011/04/biscuiteers.html)