Ellsworth on NPR

Check it out.  I haven’t made it to the restaurant yet but it would be fun to volunteer.

We made the ohdeedoh.com blog!! and smaller cooler contest

I am super excited about this.  I didn’t even think we would make the blog!

Here’s the link

as seen on yahoo.com – worst wedding traditions

So today I saw a link on yahoo.com for the worst wedding traditions.  Being the wedding lover that I am I had to check it out.

Now I fancy myself kind of good at wedding planning.  Actually after ours I thought if I ever needed a career change I could become a wedding planner.  So I was happy to see that James and I only fell prey to ONE of the worst wedding traditions.  What are these said traditions you ask?

• Matching Bridesmaids
• Big Bridal Parties
• Long Vows
• Throwing Rice
• Assigned Seating
• Expensive Wedding Favors
• Throwing the Bouquet
• Removing the Garter
• Drunken Toasts
• Leaving For the Honeymoon the Morning After

Now you ask which one tradition did we partake in.  Well we had a large wedding party.  James had 7 groomsmen, I had 6 bridesmaids to tell you the truth we really could have had more.  We have so many great friends.

AS for the other  wedding traditions we consciously chose not to partake in them.

• Matching Bridesmaids - each girl picked her own chocolate brown dress
  
• Long Vows- our wonderful minister David Behling took care of this one…he is fabulous
• Throwing Rice- we had sparklers (which reminds me I still have sparklers 2 years later)
  
• Assigned Seating- too stressful although we did have tables reserved for family and the bridal party.
  
• Expensive Wedding Favors- my mom and aunts made fabulous peanut butter blossom cookies from my grandmother’s recipe
  
• Throwing the Bouquet- I hate this one
  
• Removing the Garter- I dislike this one even more
• Drunken Toasts- 2 short toasts – we have great friends.
• Leaving For the Honeymoon the Morning After - we actually didn’t leave until 3 months later…we had a barbecue the night after at our place.
  

Missing the Rockstar :(

It has been 6 weeks since our sweet Rocky moved to Michigan.  I miss him so much but I know he is having a blast being spoiled by the grandparents (as any good granddog should be.)  Yesterday I was looking at photos of him when it snowed here in Atlanta this winter.  He’s too cute and I miss his smiley face, cuddliness and love.  I can’t wait until he and the baby can meet eachother this summer and ultimately until the Rockstar can move back home to the ATL with US!!

getting things in order

So James and I have been working to try to get our condo in order.  Rearranging, discarding, donating, organizing.  James has been really great at this.  Especially for things like scrubbing the baseboards in our room because my giant belly gets in the way.  Th was also SUPER at organizing the top shelf of our closet.

Oh he also surprised me with three black and white large format (18×24) prints of photos of the two of us.  Two are now in the living room and one is in our room over our new dressers.  We are trying to become very efficient in our storage techniques. With two closets in the entire place we need to get creative.

We are still making progress on the nursery too.  Mom’s curtains (and everything else she made) look great!  I made a mobile. Finished my pop art name project and James hung some shelves over the dresser/changing table.  We were able to fit our futon up there AND our new rocker and ottoman.  It is a little bit tighter than I had envisioned but still fairly simple and clean.  We still need to finish up a few things and decide on lighting.

Tomorrow we have a co-ed baby shower hosted by 10…yes 10… fabulous friends here in Atlanta.  We are expectng about 50 people.  Or dear friends Leah, Wooden and baby Christopher are coming in from Augusta for the shower and we are excited about that. it is always so nice to see them!

Comfort…

I am all about double duty.  My mom bought a little newborn sized outfit and it is cute and simple.  We paired the pants booties and hat will a t-shirt(so it is more comfortable for his belly with the umbilical cord) that she added embelishment to and I think it is the perfect comfortable outfit to bring Elliot home in. Cute and confortable makes a happy baby.

Cute stuff from my mom.

My wonderful mother made SO MUCH STUFF for the baby.  I wanted to share a few of our faves of the moment.

She knitted & sewed these blocks with the baby’s initials.  The close up of the E has booties and a hat on it that Mom knitted of yarn that was my grandmothers.  She also made this cute bear to match his bedding and an afgan that she made.

2 showers – baby and snow

Last weekend our dog, Rocky, moved to Michigan fr a little while.  I have been super upset about it but now that he’s there and haveing a blast I am feeling better.  He loves my brother and parents and they even created a “private” dog park for him.

Dad and Wren drove down to get The Rockstar and I and we all drove back to Michigan.  My aunts and dear friends had a shower for me on Saturday. Sunday there was a snowstorm and I flew back home on Monday.  It was such a great time and everyone was so generous and thoughtful with their gifts.

I don’t have any photos of the snow digitally right now but I will update later with them.  For now I have a few of the shower and one of Rocky in his dog park.

Mom,me, Gail,Steph, Jamie( 22 weeks pregant & 8 weeks behind me), Joni. My best friends from childhood and our moms

fabulous friends and family. Amy took wonderful notes for me!

babylegs and baby ties…

I have been checking out these onesies from etsy.com seller verykiki they have stripped ties appliqued on them and I think they are way too cute.  Even if they are cute in a dorky kind of way I want one. I was thinking of purchasing one ( I think the orange is my favorite but I like the blue one too) and my mom said why don’t you make one that would be easy (easy for her probably but I think I could manage.) If I make one I will definitely be waiting until after Rocky makes his temporary move to Michigan next week.  I think one of the reasons I think they are so cute is that the show them with these really cute legwarmer things called Babylegs. Babylegs are worn with a onesie instead of pants and can add a little flair.

My mom thought she may try to knot a pair of these but wanted a reference. So she ordered a few pairs for Baby E and we had them sent to her house in hopes that we can investigate together when I am there next weekend.  We ordered the pumpkin color in order to recreate this look.

(as a side note..they also make them with bowties which I think is even more hilarious because the stereo typical architect wear bowties…I crack up about visiting my office with E while on maternity leave and showing up with him wearing a bowtie )

We also ordered the Heron which I think would be adorable with a plain black onesie. These along with he pair my mom is making will hopefully make appearances in the monthly photos we take with the new stickers I purchased earlier in the week.

The thought of a black onesie also beings me to another subject…(and yes I am allowed to jump subjects I am  completely random and after all that is the title of this entire blog.)

So a black onesie.  There is the series of books that was started with one book titled Urban Babies Wear Black.  I think it is about them wearing black and living in the city HOWEVER I have not actually read the book yet.  I hear it is sold on Amazon and here in Atlanta at the MOMA store.  Anyway…i so think Elliot needs this book.  He is an “urban baby” after all.  He will live in the middle of Midtown Atlanta and wouldn’t really ever have to get in the car.  He has a fabulous BLACK and grey stroller to explore the city in. We can walk to work, shopping, get groceries, the movies and *hopefully* even daycare.  In my opinion he is a true urban baby   who will be wearing black and reading fabulous books.

Books…(I think this is my third subject for this post.)  My Aunts and a few friends are hosting a shower for us next weekend in Michigan.  My Aunt Marianne made these cute little invitations and inside put a cute poem.

Amber’s due date is coming near,

we’re inviting friends and family dear.

to choose a favorite story or fairy tale, that you would like Baby Elliot to hear.

Instead of a card, please let Amber & James look,

at your special choice of a book.  Then to Elliot they will read,

with all the love that he will need.

So please select a new or recycled book, and into it then your name do put.

I think this is so cute and I can’t wait until I get to see the books that people choose.

a new number each month – how cute are these?

I saw these super cute stickers on etsy.com a few days ago.  Each month you put one on your baby’s onesie and take their photo. It will create a time line of their first year.