A Fashionable Interior: Emerald + Eggplant

Obviously everyone and their mother knows emerald is the color for 2013, but I have to say doesn't it just look even more amazing when paired with an eggplant purple?

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Spring Essentials

I'm back from my babymoon! I'll be sure to fill you in completely later, but I just wanted to pop by with a quick post  before continuing to dig through my email inbox. After having returned from 80 degree sunny weather, I am most definitely in the mood for Spring. Today is super crappy, misty, and gross, so in order to keep my spirits from crashing down after my post vacation high, I checked out Gap's new Spring collection and am loving it. Of course, there's lots of maternity/mom business happening below, but that's my only option right now, so take it or leave it (detect my pregnancy hormones raging?)

I'm totally stocking up on clutches since I doubt I'll want to carry around a baby bag + a purse. A little clutch  filled with my things can just go right next to the diapers without adding weight.

P.S. Today only get 35% off your online purchase! Hurry!

Blurb Day Planner

You guys. I have discovered something amazing. You may have heard of the site Blurb, which allows you to make photo books and even publish books you design to sell. I have been on a mad search for a day planner that fit my needs and kept coming up empty handed (as you can tell since January is almost over). I then thought why not design my own? Blurb to the rescue! I completely designed my own day planner, cover and all, to fit my exact needs. I did use a little help from Photoshop for the cover, but other than that was able to use Blurb completely.

These are all the companies I'm responsible for, so I decided to make a weekly task section for each. 

I also added custom occasions, like Baby Lorenzo's due date!

I'm going to get a ribbon and hot glue it to the back cover so I can have a permanent bookmark. I am a little too excited for this. The poor Fed-Ex guy was probably wondering what kind of crazy pregnant lady gets so excited about a package. You would have thought it contained my actual baby from the stork.

There was one other company that came close to meeting my strict planner needs, but decided it would be best to just create my own. It's Russell + Hazel and they also have the cutest office accessories.

Collage via parcelpost.wordpress.com

P.S. I know it is now 2013 and who in the world still uses a day planner, but there's just something about seeing it written down that makes me feel my world is less chaotic. I'm sure some of you can relate!

Dressing You & Your Home for Winter

I don't know about you, but after I put my Christmas decor away, my house looked so sad without it. Not to mention the following this month and next month are my LEAST favorite of the year since it's just cold and dreary. (I'm ok with March since it's my birthday month.) Instead of fighting the sadness I usually get while I pack away my festive decor, I treated the occasion like I did when I was decorating for the holidays. I played songs like this:

            

And decorated like this:

Antler Handled Tray

Cable knit vase

Birch Vase

Fur blanket, sheepskin, pinecones

Coffee Table Vignette

Coolest plant ever. I can watch my tulips bloom! A little something to get me through the winter.

Dressing for colder weather can also seem like quite an unfashionable chore, but trust me, it's possible to do:

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One good thing about Winter is you don't have to feel bad for wearing this outfit and staying indoors when temps plummit:

House Progress

What a little sneak Blogger is. For days, I could not understand why I couldn't upload any photos to my posts. Just poof, gone was the option to do so. After a faithful googling sesh, I discovered Blogger no longer supports Internet Explorer and I had to download Google Chrome. What a bunch of little smarties they are over there at Google. First off, thanks for NOT letting me know about this and second I'd be more angry if you weren't so much faster than Internet Explorer. I'm officially converted.

Now back to blogging business, the weeks are flying by, which means we're getting closer and closer to starting to build our home. I really want to have an entire plan for every room before we start. That way, no decisions will slow us down and more importantly we can try to stick to a budget that's known in advance. I've been designing and selecting finishes whenever I can grab a free moment and here's what I have so far:

For the Kitchen:

For the Family Room:

And I'm working on the master bathroom at the moment, so I'll be sure to share when it's complete! I'm going for a parisian/european look with touches of modernity and rustic accents. Crossing my fingers I can pull this off...

Have a great weekend!

On Being Busy

I have to say one of my biggest pet peeves is when you ask someone how they're doing and their response is "Busy" and they then proceed to tell you everything that is on their to-do list. Come on, seriously?? That's the best you can do? Everyone is busy! I don't know anyone who has reached their 20s who can say, "oh ya know not much, just sitting around watching a lot of HBO and eating pistachios". Can't we find anything better to say about our lives other than the craziness of work or home life? If we rephrase how we respond to this question, I think it allows people to perceive you as someone in control of their lives. Here would be my examples to someone's "How are You" question:

Crazy Response:
- Ahhh this baby is coming so soon and I have nothing prepared! I have so much to do in the next few months I have no idea how I'm going to get it all done, especially when I'm still working as much as I am!

Composed Response:
- We're so excited to meet our baby this Spring! There's definitely lots of prep work to get done, but my husband and family are being super supportive. I'm going to sign up for birthing and newborn classes so I can feel slightly less stressed out about the experience, so I'm anxious to see what I learn! We've also hired an assistant at the office so I can focus a little less on work.

Crazy Response:
- We are so busy at work building homes right now, and to top it all off, we need to build our own personal home so it's done shortly after the baby is born. I have no idea how we'll get it done in time!

Composed Response:
- We're really lucky at work right now. The economy seems to be making a turn for the better and we're so privileged to be building all the homes we have right now. I'm a little worried for how our home being built is going to play out in this, but I know if we focus on what needs to get done, we can do it.

Crazy Response:
- Being a real estate agent, office manager for 15 employees of a concrete company, marketing a home building company, operating a rental company, and being an interior decorator all while dealing with a crap ton of personal home life things is driving me crazy. Every day, I get into my office and don't know where to turn first. My desk looks like a bomb exploded every single day.

Composed Response:
- Work definitely keeps me on my toes, but I love never having to repeat the same day twice. Sure I'd like the ability to have one job and fewer responsibilities, but I chose to take them all on. Having all these roles has also given me an insanely well rounded experience I would never have gotten otherwise. Hopefully, once I have the baby I can step out of some of these roles to focus on being a mom, but we won't know how things will play out until the time is here!

See what I mean? Sure, the crazy responses are definitely true, but by looking at and speaking about them in a more positive manner, I think your outlook on it will translate that way. So go out there and prepare yourself for the next time someone asks, " How are you?"

The Glow

Calling all fashionable moms, if you haven't heard of The Glow, you must check out this site. Talk about chic women, they also have little kiddos in tow! It does help that they're successful/some famous, but still gorgeous photography to look at. Check out some of my favorite photos:

And here's one of my go to preggers outfits. (my jeans may or may not be held together with a rubber band...)
It's definitely more difficult being pregnant in the winter when you need to bundle up. I'd give nothing more than to throw on a pair of flats and a maxi dress, but then I remind myself I don't have to battle with the heat of the summer on top of the inferno growing in my stomach.

A Wonderful Early Valentine's Gift

My husband is the absolute best. For Christmas, he told me he had wanted to book a trip for us, but wanted me to be able to choose where we would go and also to speak with our doctor first. So it ended up being my Valentine's day gift! We'll be heading to the Bahamas at the end of the month for a babymoon! I cannot wait to be sitting my big belly right here:

Speaking of big bellies, I'll need to dress around it, so here's some cute outfits I designed to keep me comfortable and feeling good:

For the plane:

Lounging on the sand:

Around the resort and to dinner:

Everything's easy and breezy! I'm counting down the days...

 

Lorenzo's Nursery

First off, I'm super excited about Enzo's nursery design and cannot wait to do it. However the major issue is I do not have my new house to put it in and it makes zero sense to do anything in my little townhome we'll be moving out of about a month after he's born. So you can imagine it's killing me inside to have to wait. But then I think, he has no clue he'll have no room for the first month of his life, nor will he ever probably be in it considering he'll be in a co-sleeper next to me so I can stare at him all night long, stalker style.

So without futher ado, here is Enzo's vintage coastal nursery design:

I tried to go for a design that had a child like quality to it without being too baby. That way I won't need to change the design in a few years. It can be evolved as he grows older. The crib from Restoration Hardware converts into a daybed and then headboard for a twin bed. And if he's not into the coastal theme years down the road, it's mainly artwork and accessories that can easily be swapped out.

I would love to wallpaper the entire room in navy grasscloth, but it may end up being easier/less expensive to do the accent wall where his crib will sit. It's a little tricky to decide what to do just by looking at a room on a blueprint and I'm not exactly sure which room will be his yet. 

And here's a look at the bump! I didn't have my good camera, so bear with me and my iPhone. It's pretty crazy seeing this thing grow every week!