Getting moved and settled

Moving and moving with a young child in tow, are two completely different things. The process of getting everything packed moved and then unpacked again, organized and put together in ways that feel, logical, beautiful and homey all takes twice as long as it should! 

Though Guiny is only 13 months, she is very much (though not completely) out of the "baby" stage. She toddles all of over and gets into as much as possible. She's always trying to climb and I've just had to order my first set of child safety locks. I thought perhaps I wouldn't have to buy any, Guin is usually really good at listening when I tell her no, even when she doesn't like it. But at this stage the cabinets are just too available and too interesting.

The bathroom is pretty much done as is the living space. The kitchen is also very close to finished and the bedroom, well I guess that's half done. The spare bedroom is quite a mess though, at the moment it's kind of storage and things I don't know what to do with.

But hopefully it'll be done enough soon that I can do a proper post with pictures and everything. Till then here's a somewhat dark picture of the living room.

The Skirt vs The Pant

A couple weeks ago my husband randomly asked me if I prefer jeans or long skirts/dresses. I knew right off that the answer was long skirts and dresses, but it of course is way more complicated than that. Which has in turn lead to a lot of thinking. 

I'm 24 years old and I think it's safe to say I've spent most of my life wearing some form of denim. And I like it, I think it's comfortable, I have even been known to sleep in my jeans. I like a good pair of jeans and if it's cold and snowy or really wet or I'm going hiking or any other active activity I will probably always choose a pair of jeans. 

On the other hand, more particularly since I've gotten older I find that I actually like skirts better, especially long full skirts. Beyond the fact that it's actually healthier for woman to wear skirts (there are tons of resources for this so I'm not going to bother citing any unless someone asks) and the fact that they're comfortable, I honestly like the way they look better and how they feel when I walk in them or sit in them.  Also you don't have to worry about the material wearing thin between your legs, thus a skirt will last a lot longer then a pair of pants (p.s. Unless you have thin model type legs, this is pretty much always an issue).

I read a quote a month or two ago by a woman named Tasha Tudor, she said “Why do woman want to dress like men when they are fortunate enough to be woman? Why lose femininity, which is one of our greatest charms? We get more accomplished by being charming then we would by flaunting around in pants and smoking. I am very fond of men. I think they are wonderful creatures. I love them dearly. But I don't want to look like one. When women gave up their long skirts, they made a grave error…”                                                                                                                                        Now of course I know first hand the practicality of wearing pants, but I still find it sad that they have become so common. I will still have a couple pairs of pants, but I think I'm going to add more skirts and dresses to my wardrobe this year.

* all photos can be found on my Pinterest board, My Dream Closet.

Being Intentional

I mentioned in my post about the Miracle gel nail polish that I was trying to be more intentional with my life. I feel like it's really easy when you become a mom, especially a stay at home mom to get a bit shall we say lazy or lax with your life. Now when I was a teenager I was very intentional about my appearance, I wasn't over the top but I was intentional. I brushed my hair and put on at least eyeliner everyday and I would take ages in my closet finding what I wanted to wear, I think I owned one pair of sweatpants and I never wore them.

Now as a stay home it's easy to find myself wearing the same shirt 3 days in a row with badly chipped nail polish, dry skin, hair that hasn't been brushed and no make up and really, really not caring. But that reality has started to bother me recently. Not just my indifference towards my appearance, but my indifference towards a lot of things, from my appearance, to my health, to relationships. I remembered recently a time when I was in college and God challenged me to "fast" make up for a week, and it was actually really hard because I had gotten to the point where I cared to much. Now though I feel the pendulum has swung to far in the opposite direction and I'm needing to pull it down to a normal place again.

So this years resolution is to be more intentional. I am not going to wait till Newyears to make it either, 'cause let's face it there is no time like the present. We signed a contract for our new place today, lots of change is coming and it's going to be a good season. 

So I challenge you, any of you ... If you are feeling lazy about your life, make a change and make this the year of intentionality.

Miracle Gel Review

I love nail polish, but it doesn't really love me ... well not enough to stick around when the going gets tough. I'm naturally rough on my nails, though not as bad as I use to be. I work my with hands a lot, washing dishes, gardening, making things and taking them apart, I use my nails to pick poke and pry on a pretty regular bases. It should come as no surprise that I usually can't make it more then a day before my freshly painted nails start chipping round the edges.

Recently I decided that I need to grow up a bit and start being more intentional about certain things, like my nails. I know if I don't take care of them they will be gross, so I bought some gloves for gardening and some for washing dishes and I'm going to do my best to be intentional about my hands (and feet). I also finally decided to try Sally Hanson's Miracle Gel nail polish and see how well it works.

                

This is Sally Hanson Miracle Gel in Birthday Suit two coats with one layer of Miracle Gel top coat. I was really impressed by how nice and smooth it went on, and the quick dry time, not only that but it didn't start chipping till day four! My only complaint is that I didn't realize I was going to have to buy a special nail polish remover to get the gel polish off. Otherwise I really like it!

* update - it does come off with regular remover you just have to rub extra hard and long.

Miracle Gel Review

I love nail polish, but it doesn't really love me ... well not enough to stick around when the going gets tough. I'm naturally rough on my nails, though not as bad as I use to be. I work my with hands a lot, washing dishes, gardening, making things and taking them apart, I use my nails to pick poke and pry on a pretty regular bases. It should come as no surprise that I usually can't make it more then a day before my freshly painted nails start chipping round the edges.

Recently I decided that I need to grow up a bit and start being more intentional about certain things, like my nails. I know if I don't take care of them they will be gross, so I bought some gloves for gardening and some for washing dishes and I'm going to do my best to be intentional about my hands (and feet). I also finally decided to try Sally Hanson's Miracle Gel nail polish and see how well it works.

                

This is Sally Hanson Miracle Gel in Birthday Suit two coats with one layer of Miracle Gel top coat. I was really impressed by how nice and smooth it went on, and the quick dry time, not only that but it didn't start chipping till day four! My only complaint is that I didn't realize I was going to have to buy a special nail polish remover to get the gel polish off. Otherwise I really like it!

* update - it does come off with regular remover you just have to rub extra hard and long.

Corsets and Costumes

I'm on a bit of a costume kick and this year I'm feeling a little 18th century obsessed! I've gone to a couple rennesance fairs and of course made my own costumes and I must say I was very happy with them. My first costuming adventure began after falling in love with the Lord of the Rings, I began drafting my own patterns and hand sewing my elven dresses which all things considered I think came out very well. But when I made my first corset/stays for the renn fair, that was a game changer. I love the weight and the layers and the shapes created by the clothing of yesteryear, if I could wear them all the time I probably would.

Well anyways, a few years ago ... Okay about 5, I bought an actual stays pattern packet rather then drafting my own. I found that half done corset in a bag last month and decided to finish it, it was only then that I realized it was an 18th century design ( not rennesance). But I liked it, and I was determined to finish so I started researching 18th century clothing and oh is it lovely! I am so excited to finish the stays and beggin the rest of the costume!

I've almost decided to go ahead and wear it to the renn fair anyways, I mean really half the costumes there aren't historically accurate and lots of people don't even wear costumes! I think only a handful of people will notice and probably most of them wouldn't even bother saying anything.

So here is some inspiration from my Pinterest board on costumes! And yes, I do plan to make my husband wear a kilt. I'll be sure to post costume updates along the way and I'll tell you why I love corsets so much.

Find your Ancestors for Free part 1

Finding your family ancestry has become the new big thing over the past few years and one of the biggest groups leading the way is Ancestry.com. I'm sure we've all seen the commercials, whether it's people expressing surprise and amazement at what they found or how easilly it was to search, from the websight, to the app or even DNA testing. An all encompassing subscription costs $50 a month or nearly $200 for a half a year, and the DNA test although very cool is is priced at $100 dollars and can't actually tell you everything about where your family came from.

    Researching your family tree can be an amazing adventure, not to mention really fun and potentially semi-addictive, but it doesn't have to be an expensive hobby in fact it can be free. So I am going to do my best to show you how you can find your family without spending a ton of money that could be put to better use doing something else!

     The first thing you should do is write down all the information you have, and I mean everything starting with your parents and working your way back. You want to write full names any and every importent date, births, marriage, births of children, deaths. You want to write where they lived where they were born, what kind of work they did. After you've done what you can ask your parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents etc for any information that you might not have known about and write it all down. Then after you've done all you can do, it's time to really get started!

      If you have an iPad, iPhone or any other devise with access to the APP store, you want to go on and download the ancestry app from ancestry.com. You will be able to make an account and use their family tree device for free, if you only have a desktop I believe you can also do this through ancestry.com if however it doesn't work Familysearch.com also has a similar application for building your family tree, although it is not quite as user friendly. Now that you have a digital family tree, it's time to add all your information into it. And that should have you off to a good start, next time I'll tell you about free websights available and how you can use them, I may even give you some examples.

Please leave any questions in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them!

    

My New Specs

So as with most babies and small children Guin loves to pull my glasses off and play with them. Well last week she pulled the arm out of the hinge, my dad was able to glue it back together but they are now even loser then they already were. So now when I look down or bend over they quite simply fall off. They have been good glasses and I have had them for almost 5 years, I can still use them, but all in all I figured it was time for an upgrade. My sister in law suggested Eyebuydirect, and I soon after decided on a pair that I and my husband both liked. The company is really amazing and I will definitely  be buying from them again, they also regularly have great deals if you need new glasses I definitely recommend them!

Green Dreams

I may have mentioned before, but back when I lived in Harbin I found inspiration and solace in watching the Edible Garden by Alys Fowler. I think in my mind watching her putter away in a garden that could easily be my own helped to ease the blues that come with living in a frozen land of concrete, it transformed the winter blues into green dreams. Even now with opportunity to grow things, I still love the simple inspiration of listening to her talk about everything from flowers and herbs to peas and beans. I use to watch it on Youtube but unfortunately it's been removed and I'm not sure why, the only place I've been able to find it is here.  She also has quite a few amazing books and she writes for a number of blogs. Look her up and get inspired!

Favorite Friday's : Baby day

These Boppy pillows have been two of my favorite baby products and I use them both every day, multiple times a day! I know some moms who say they don't really use their nursing pillows, obviously people did without them for centuries and they aren't a survival necessity. However, if you have large breasts and or a small baby or if your baby eats a lot and for long periods of time this will make meal times so much more comfortable. Also if you are trying to get something done while breastfeeding it will make that much easier.

I must say though that convenient or not I personally would never pay full price for one. I got mine for $5 dollars at large consignment event. You can also find them on Craig's list and other sights for a better deal then brand new. But that's me, I love cheap and free is even better! But someone has to buy it brand new, so if that's your cup of tea ... Please be my guest.

The other Boppy I love is this donut shaped one, it primarily for infants but my little girl is so little that she's gotten a lot more use out of it. This pillow was lent to me by my sister-in-law, who is expecting her own little bundle of joy in June, I am so greatfull for it. Up till just recently I have used this pillow so much. It was esspecially useful through the winter when the floor was really cold. It's great for when you just need to to plop the baby down for a minute or two. Unfortunatly Guiny is now strong enough to sit up and land in a nose dive if I don't watch her carefully, so I think it may possibly be time to pass it back to Aunt Mimi.