Free: A print or four

This Christmas, my sister and I decided that instead of buying each other things we'd make each other something. I'm not as talented as her so I think I got the better end of the deal with the beautiful flower necklace she made me (post to come!). I put my skills to work looking on her Pinterest page and created some prints she had pinned. You can see them in her house here. But for those of you who share her tastes, I've included them here for your download and print pleasure. Nothing like a freebie.

PRINTING NOTE: These were sized for 8.5"x11" prints. For some reason I got the picture size and standard paper size mixed up. They should print high resolution at 8x10. To download, click on the print. You'll be launched into Blogger's image viewer. From there, you should be able to Control + Click the picture, which will give you the option to open the image in a new window. From there, right click or command click the image and you should get a Save Image As option. Once you save it, it's ready for your print pleasure.

One for the boss

Cowl girl

I saw this cowl on Pinterest (such a time suck!), and I'm loving the chunkiness of it. It screams, "Wear me, woman! You will not regret it." And, "I go well with a Starbucks cup." Yes, yes, you do my fine cowl friend. Must put on my knitting needle to-do list, which by the way, someone really needs to tackle. I'm not going to name any names, but you know who is slacking on that resolution.

Seeing purple

For some reason I'm eating up all things purple. I've been contemplating painting my office/guest bedroom for a while now, and when I saw this page in this month's issue of Better Homes and Gardens, it struck me purple could possibly be my paint color. Although, I'm not in love with any of the ones on this page. I'll need to get some paint samples and sit with them for a while since it's going into a room I now spend 40+ hours in.

A scrumptious knit stitch

I saw this on Pinterest. I need to find out how to make it and what it's called.

Dear Vincent

I never started a baby book for Vincent. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I didn't think putting little factoids in a book was enough to say how much this little boy means to me. It doesn't capture much about him. Weight, lengths, first words, and first step information leave much to the imagination about the kind of little boy Vincent is. It doesn't capture how when Vincent is happy he grows and leans in to nuzzle you with an open-mouth kiss. Nor does it capture how he loves to splash in the tub, so much so that he loves getting splashed in the face. I could go on and on. So I thought instead of writing down all the mundane details that every baby goes through I would start writing little journal entries to him expressing what he's doing and what I'm loving about him. My only regret is that I wished I would have thought of the idea sooner. Oh well. All he needs to know is that he pooped, peed, and ate for the first 9 months of his life, right? He's only recently become a shining character worthy of words on a page. Oh, and I still keep track of those tiny details like height and weight, but on post-it notes. Maybe I'll make a page some day devoted to just this information.

So I set out to find a notebook to do this. And if you didn't know, Target has a lot of fun notebook. I saw this one with a changeable monogram on the front. The only problem was that the V monogram was pink. Call me old fashioned but pink is for girls. So I set out to make my own V to insert into monogram pocket at the front of the notebook. So clever. And I think I might do something with the left over letters. Maybe Vincent can use them to practice identifying them.

Here's the notebook. I hate that the sticker on it left behind some bleed from the glue. I might have to cover it up with a fun label. Something I can be bothered about later.

Here are the little punch out initials that came with the notebook. You can see the little monogram pocket on the left.

And more monograms. Sorry about the crappy pictures. I was lazy and took them with my iPhone.

And more. You can see the company also made some symbols...

And some other characters.

But I created my own monogram. Here are the options I liked best. But when I printed them out, I thought the last one was the strongest.

The font is called Ribbon. 

Hung up on jewelry hangers

Now that I'm starting to amass a few rather long and chunky pieces of jewelry that don't fit into my jewelry box, I'm thinking it's time to get a jewelry hanger. I'd love to see my fun Charming Charlie pieces and my very favorite recycled T-shirt and flower necklaces up and on display. Since I'm a jewelry phobe/virgin, I forget what I own. My daily routine has never included "What fun necklace should I wear? Or I wonder if those dangly earring would go with this outfit?" Nope, those thoughts don't cross my mind. But this girl is changing, and I think a jewelry hanger would remind me what I have and be a fun closet accessory. So I turned to Etsy. Of course there would be a million options.

Here are the ones I like:

From CocosKnits 
Although this one is by far is my fave, I think $75 is a bit steep. Just think of all the pieces I could get at Charlies!

This one from is Sleeper1972 different and made from upcycled material, but I imagine my collection will soon grow beyond what it can hold. The $17 is easy on the wallet though. Would it look good in a closet?

This one from penelope9919 is very Dexter ($10). Moving on...

I don't quite need a Caboodle (bluebirdheaven, $116). Do you remember Caboodles? I never quite had enough crap to fill the slots and drawers for those tackle boxes.

I think this one from oakstudiosofdesign would give me space to grow. Although the price--$35--for such a simple piece might be a little much.

That boy makes me smile

New year's resolutions

Since I'm turning 30 this year, I thought that it was fitting to have 30 resolutions.

1. To get up every morning at 5 and run on the treadmill or do yoga.
2. Blog at least three times a week.
3. Take more pictures of my family.
4. Start a blog binder and spend more time and effort into each post.
5. Redesign my blog.
6. Organize my office/guest bedroom to be a place I'm eager to go to work in every morning.
7. Paint my office.
8. Finish my foyer gallery project.
9. Hang up pictures around the house.
10. Put hardware on the cabinets.
11. Buy wall cabinets for each bathrooms that I can put towels in.
12. Paint the bathrooms.
13. Do something each month to prepare for Christmas.
14. Start sewing regularly.
15. Journal regularly.
16. Go see my niece in California.
17. Develop and cleaning schedule and stick to it.
18. Plan two date nights a month.
19. Practice French daily.
20. Get pointers on giving a better interview and talking myself up.
21. Come up with a budget plan for buying big ticket items for the house.
22. Call my dad at least once a month.
23. Plan a family reunion.
24. Have a girls weekend with my sisters.
25. Get professional family pictures.
26. Knit one item a month.
27. Drink more wine.
28. Set up regular hair appointments.
29. Teach Vincent sign language.
30. Get a new job.

Christmas recap

I'm already falling off the my resolution wagon by not blogging as much as I wanted to. Oops! Can we pretend that New Year's is this weekend? After all, I didn't even enjoy the bottle of champagne we got. Do over please!

This Christmas was so very fun and tiring for me. I decorated the house for in laws to come over for dinner on Christmas Eve. I may have went a little overboard planning the menu for someone who has a 10-month old: a roast (we didn't have a a roasting pan; had to buy that); honey pumpkin crescent rolls with honey butter (yikes, those took all morning; who makes bread for the first time when they have so many other things to do? apparently I do. They turned out fabulous though); green bean casserole (OK, this was Jonathan's item, but I still had to watch the baby while he made it). We had wine and sangria. There was fondu and carrot cake. I hung ornaments from the chandelier and tied ribbon to the napkin holders. Red chargers were in place. The list goes on and on. I'm not kidding. It was the fanciest and most lavish dinner I've ever tried to put together. Can't wait to do it again next year! I better start planning now.

Christmas Day was a whirlwind. I wish I would have savored it more. Drank in Vincent's reaction to all the hoopla. Taken more pictures. Savor: That's my word for this year. Savor. Like a glass of really good wine or a piece of chocolate. That feeling of the last five minutes before you have to get out of bed. I'm always trying to be one step ahead and it sucks all the fun out of it.

Oh, and I managed to find the time to sew monogrammed stockings for Jonathan, Vincent, and I. First project out of the sewing gate. It wouldn't be me if it weren't challenging.

We have our party clothes on!

Perhaps we need a bigger tree for family portraits. One we don't completely block. 

A little better.

Vincent and Grandpa Al. Notice the stockings in the background. That was the only picture I seem to have taken with my good camera. Love that the Boppy is hanging out in the background. Sigh.

Christmas morning! A new puzzle and play phone. All right! OK, maybe he's not that excited, but it is 6 a.m. in the morning. We didn't manage to take many pictures. We were both so tired since Vincent woke up at 5 a.m. Jonathan got me Nook Tablet, which I can't put down. It makes it so easy to read and stay caught up on my blogs.

Dapper dude at Grandma and Grandpa G's. Sweaters on little boys=CUTE!

All these presents are mine! MINE!

I'll open this one. Who cares if it doesn't have my name on it. 

Bet I can win you over with my smile.

Never mind on opening it then, banging on it is just as fun!

Wilson attacks!

Now can I open it?

The G Family

Raylene couldn't be there, but she wasn't far from our minds. Ms. Disney/Hollywood.

Everyone loves a baby.

My new riding toy

That K-State pillow pet is silly.

With my second (?) cousin

Putting together a foosball table

Mama is so funny.

Worn out!