PINTEREST PROJECT!

How many of you have like, half a million really cute or super cool projects or yummy recipes pinned on Pinterest, just sitting there on your boards looking good? Yeah, me too.

So, I thought I'd try to make it a point to start completing some of those projects (I tend to actually make a lot of the recipes... the ones containing ridiculous amounts of sugar at least) to share with you here. You know, accountability or whatever.

This is actually a shirt that I originally saw featured on another blog, The Little Things We Do. The shirt is from Etsy here and on Pinterest here. Super cute, but at 22 bucks, a little rich for my blood. Funnily enough, Jordan's the one who pointed out how easily I could just make it myself. I was pretty much resigned to the fact that Adelaide would not be getting that shirt once I saw the price. But duh, make it! And since I did it myself, I was actually able to customize it with Adelaide's name and a number 2 on the back.

  

I got the baseball tee on Amazon. Obviously. I actually found my options to be pretty limited when it came to toddler sized baseball tees. And since I pretty much refuse to ever pay for shipping, Amazon was the way to go. 

For the letters, I decided to try out the Cricut iron on stuff (yep, go to amazon and type in "Cricut iron on stuff" ;) which I'd never tried before. If you have a Cricut machine (and I assume Silhouette has something similar as well) that is the way to go for sure! With that stuff I was able to make 3 different sizes of letters, and I wasn't at all limited by how many of a particular letter was included like you are with the prepackaged ones. (Adelaide's name + "dos" probably would've required 2 packages of iron on letters thanks to all of the D's.) And the best part, I still have some leftover for another project (though there's not nearly as much on a roll as the packaging would lead you to believe). I bought mine at Michael's, but it's cheaper on Amazon, so I would definitely suggest checking there first. I was feeling particularly impatient that day and as a result, didn't check Amazon first :( Next time I order this stuff, it will be from Amazon!

So, just cut out whatever letters you need and follow the instructions on the package to apply them to the shirt, and voila! Adorable shirt for less than 22 bucks and customized with a name and number on the back and iron on stuff leftover for the next project :)

I can't wait for Adelaide's birthday to come around so she wear it with the cute glittery skirt we found!

*Side Notes: I snagged the shirt for $10.80, but it's now listed for $15, so you might wanna watch the price for a few days if you're interested. 

P.S. Sorry the pics don't look great. For some reason they aren't uploading with the edits I did in the Pictures app. Have I mentioned the new Pictures app has nothing on iPhoto? As in, it sucks and iPhoto didn't. Boo!

P.P.S. You guys, it's September tomorrow! TOMORROW! Time to break out the Fall decorations. Katie, you with me??

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (we're not talking a new wardrobe here, more like snack money :). Regardless, I only recommend products  I use personally and believe others may enjoy as well. Thank you for supporting the companies that support me and my family!

SURROUNDINGS

I recently stumbled upon a new {to me} blog called Hello Mess. I've really been enjoying reading through months and months worth of posts, with years still to go. I really enjoy the mixture of things she writes about and the honesty with which she writes. It's given me a lot of ideas of posts I would like to try out myself, one of which being a series she does called "Surroundings". It's about remembering exactly what our home looks like right at this very moment. Noticing the little things and messes. I like how it has made me look around at the little messes, especially the ones that seem to say "Adelaide was here." :), and smile rather than just seeing it as something to pick up and sort out and "fix". It's all just part of this lovely life that we have right now, and I really want to remember just how it is, because before I know it it'll be completely different. One day we won't have teeny toys and shoes and things in the way all. the. time. and it will be a little sad. So, here's what's around these days...

- Birthday party preparations are officially under way

- Adelaide's collection of pictures on the fridge and her newly added letter magnets for her name

- Chalk remnants from last week's play date

- The latest box of outgrown clothes (sniff...sniff). So lucky I had Adelaide to help me label the box :)

- BFF's. So glad they're finally like each other. Sometimes anyway.

- Adelaide's tent is totally where it's at these days.

TECHNOLOGY....

With a face that cute, who could complain if all I do today is bombard you with a ton of pictures?

I'm trying to sort out an issue with my Creative Cloud/Lightroom subscription and nap time is winding down. Either I have really bad luck when it comes to everything computer-y or I am severely lacking in the technological knowledge department. Either way, I've got a problem to sort out and probably not enough time to do it. 

BACK TO SCHOOL

Today marks the first day of school for most kids and teachers around these parts, and I have to say it's feeling pretty bittersweet for me. I am officially starting my second {school} year staying home with Adelaide. Up until recently, I was feeling kind of out of love with being a teacher. The last few months of my last year teaching before staying home with Adelaide was rough. I was pretty miserable being away from her, and I let those feelings creep in and trump all the things I loved about teaching. I made the decision to stay home with a bad taste in my mouth for teaching. But after some separation and time to really reflect, I am able to see much more clearly that reason why I was so down for those last few months had nothing to do with being a teacher and was really all about becoming a mom.  

This time last year I was nothing short of delirious to be home with my baby girl instead of starting off a new year in the classroom. This year? Not as much. I'm still where I believe I should be and I'm grateful to be here, but I'm missing teaching. A lot. Seeing all of the pictures being posted on Facebook of crisp, new classrooms and kids with their new teachers, the enthusiasm and excitement evident, is definitely having an effect on me. I am patently sad to not be a part of it. Luckily, getting to be a full-time mom is more rewarding for me right now and I'm just so glad to feel the desire to be back in the classroom. It may be a while before I'm back there, but it feels indescribably satisfying to know where I want to be when this chapter of my life comes to a close. After a year of feeling confused and lost so often, I finally feel like I have a clear path again and am looking forward to the coming months and years like I haven't in a long, long time.

PRIORITIES

Because by the time your kid is almost 2 (!), you realize that nothing they do will likely last more than 15 minutes, and it's just not worth the time or effort to put them into a swimsuit before playing in the sprinkler. Plus, it was time to change out of PJ's anyway. Win-win!

FOOT IN MOUTH DISEASE

Image via Pinterest

So, I went out to lunch with a (newish) mommy friend. New enough that we don't know a lot of each other's history and as such, small talk still plays a pretty big role in our conversations. Rough, but there's only one way, right? Anyway, as I was watching her trying to convince her (ahhh-dorable!) boy to eat some more of his sandwich before having other things, I started thinking about how our pediatrician is always telling us to "develop a 'take it or leave it' attitude with mealtimes. Well, instead of saying what I really meant, "Adelaide's pediatrician is always telling us to "develop a 'take it or leave it' attitude with mealtimes... that's so impossible! If we did that, she'd never eat another thing besides pasta and bread!", somehow it came out more like "I try to have a 'take it or leave it' attitude with mealtimes. If she doesn't want to eat something, then whatever!" In effect implying that that wasn't what she was doing, and that maybe that was somehow wrong? I then spent the next 10 minutes trying to dig my way out of that hole, going on and on and eventually trying to blame it all on Jordan somehow (he wasn't there, he'd never know anyway ;). Awkward! Like I said a couple of days ago, me and smalltalk? Not so good.

Did I ever tell you about the time when I accidentally semi-insulted day cares (only in order to defend myself, not at all because I really have any problems with day cares!) only to find out, like one sentence later, that someone in that very group was about to start her own daughter in one? Yeah, try to talk your way out of that one...

Now maybe you see why I qualify things I say here on the blog so much... because in real life my desperately-trying-to-make-conversation mouth gets waaay to far ahead of my brain and gets me into trouble all too often. Hence, foot in mouth disease.

MOVING ON UP

Yup, I officially have my very own domain name! You can forget that .blogspot jazz and find me directly at:

www.thislovelylifeblog.com

Seem incredibly more legit, no?

BEST DAY OF THE WEEK!

Me> Shirt & Skirt: F21, Shoes: Target

Adelaide> Dress: Baby Gap, Shoes: Saltwater Sandals, via Amazon (where else?)

First off, can I just say how much I don't like the  new Photos app? iPhoto was just better. End of story. Well, for me at least. Dontcha just love how I always feel the need to qualify everything. "For me", "In my opinion", etc. Heaven forbid I ever make any sort of generalization that may offend.

Secondly, how cute is my budding model?!?! Also, say goodbye to this dress which officially became too short today. On one hand, the shopper in me is ecstatic. Growing out of clothes = shopping for new ones! Woot woot! But the Mommy in me is freaking out at the how fast she's growing! Not growing up! Just growing. There will be NO growing up!

And finally, I would just like to take a second to say how incredibly grateful I am that I somehow managed to find a group of mommy friends. Not only does Adelaide love our weekly play dates, but so do I, just as much (if not more!). As someone who has never had many friends and always been horrible at making friends (me + smalltalk = awkward and exhausting), I am so thankful for the little group we have formed. Credit must go to Anela who was the first to suggest meeting outside of the safety of the library, something I would've been way too timid to ever suggest myself. Our Friday play dates are the thing I most look forward to each week, and I always leave with a little boost in my attitude. I always envied the groups of friends I saw on TV (for the 10 years before this playgroup, I had a grand total of 2 friends, family not included, and only ever saw them separately) and for the first time in my life, I have a group of friends! And it's awesome. I've always read about the importance of friends, and only now do I understand it. 

Okay, that's enough cheese for one post. Weekend ahoy!

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I KNEW...

 Shirt & {Cutoff} Shorts: F21, Shoes: Target

Lipstick: Maybelline Fuchsia Fever

So of course I had to go and open my big mouth about how great it was that Adelaide's  daily nap finally had some consistency. I was just so sure that one longish (to downright long some days) nap was something I could count on. Of course the universe heard me bragging and decided to teach me a lesson. For several days now her naps have been anything but predictable. Ranging from less than an hour one day to two the next. But at least it's still one nap a day. I *think that battle may finally be over. That's something.

Also, I have reached that point in the year where my hair has seen a little too much sun and is now taking on an unflattering orangey hue. 

And I've been trying to cut back on my sugar intake. So yeah, I'm pretty much feeling miserable about that.

*Dear universe,  I know it's not my choice. I'm not bragging, just speculating. Please don't come back to teach me a lesson on this one too.

UNDER-INFLATED BALL CHAIR ANYONE?

^^ Me, circa 1987ish ^^

^^Adelaide circa today... Like mother like daughter I guess ;)^^

vv Also, Happy Birthday to my sister/Aunt Mandy! vv

LIFE LATELY ACCORDING TO MY iPHONE

^^ It's all about dressing up in multiples layers... or stripping down; "smile" equals a squinty face that looks more like a response to "Show me your teeth"; making forts and other cozy spots; and we even made a successful trip to the Perot. All in all, this stage (even with the crazy fits) is shaping up to be the best one yet. It's been so much fun lately, and I'm constantly being overcome by just how much love I have for this little person :) I couldn't possibly ask for a better, cooler, sweeter, funnier or cuter kid to call my own. ^^

The best thing about life lately? The fact that Adelaide is finally, after over a year and half, on a consistent nap schedule! Okay, that's an exaggeration, it's been consistent before (though never for very long thanks to the ever changing needs of littles), but it seems like it's been a loooong time since I could count on knowing what any particular day would hold schedule-wise. I can now say with absolute almost certainty that she is officially on one nap a day, and she can make it until one before napping... or at least noon. Like I said, consistent! ;) And I can take zero credit for it. As usual, she did it when she was good and ready. At what point am I just going to accept that I have no control over... anything really? Now someone please tell me that the one-nap-a-day schedule is going to stick around and not change for a long, loooong time. Please? Pleeeeease?  

In other news, above is a Pinterest project in the works. A play kitchen to go in the playhouse we're planning on building for Adelaide's 2nd birthday! Now that there's a kitchen, there'll have to be a playhouse. See how that works? Yup. Sorry Hubs, you don't have any choice now. {Just kidding. He's awesome and can build anything, so throwing together a playhouse for Adelaide is all in a day's work for him :) Just one of the many perks of being married to the handiest of all men.} 

And, now that Adelaide has been sticking to a pretty consistent schedule, I'm feeling much more motivated to actually try to get some things done during nap time. Today's nap time agenda: Blog and get started on making birthday invitations! Pumpkin party #2 is is t-minus 51 days! (Wow, that makes it sound a lot further away than I was thinking. Let's just call it: less than 2 months... that sounds better. Or sadder... is it possible that my baby is seriously going to be two is less than 2 months?!?! 

HEY, I GOT MY NEW SHOES ON

Tee: Target, Shorts: F21, Shoes: Nordstrom 

Sorry I haven't been around! Jordan ended up coming home from his trip a couple of days early, meaning Adelaide and I got him all to ourselves for, wait for it.... 4 whole days! It was pretty incredible. We hadn't even had so much as one full day without him having to spend some part of it doing work things in over a month. So, we soaked it up.

In other news, I finally scored these shoes, which I've been coveting for months. I refused to pay full price for these, because I pretty much never pay that much for any one item of clothing or shoes. Remember, I'm a quantity over quality girl. So, when I happened upon the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale (over :( Sorry I didn't report it sooner!), I was beyond stoked to see them in the sale for what I deemed a perfectly reasonable price, in a perfectly fall color to top it off. 

I went through a slightly less-than-love bit when I came to the conclusion that they made my feet look big. I have thing about my feet looking big. But the love swept back in and now I just don't care. For now at least. 

Now if Fall could just get here....

You're probably going to be hearing a lot about my desperate wishes for Fall to get here over the coming weeks. Sorry in advance.

Actually, no I'm not. I live for Fall (hence the pumpkin wallpaper I just put on my phone this morning) and I ain't ashamed of it.