some news!

So I guess it's time we officially make an announcement on here. Sorry for the lack of any posts lately. I have not been feeling well because...we are pregnant! 

We took this photo earlier this week around 13.5 weeks. It's hard to tell, but my belly seemed to have popped right out. I, of course, thought, maybe twins, but my midwife said, one, we would not be able to tell yet and, two, with second babies often the stomach muscles are just looser. 

It made is a lot easier to hide the pregnancy. First of all, my sister got married when I was around 5 weeks pregnant. So I had to tell a few family members because it would be fairly obvious that I was not drinking over the weekend. 

Then around 6 weeks, I really turned a bad corner and started to feel sick as a dog. I also got a little bit depressed...maybe pregnancy hormones mixed with the seasons turning to FREEZING. (New England, sometimes I hate you so hard. It gets dark at 4:19, people.) 

I pretty much have experienced every symptom in the book lately: 

• Queasiness
• Occasional vomiting
• Extreme tiredness (going to bed at 8:30pm, taking an afternoon nap)
• Fatigue
• Highly emotional
• Food aversions (few cravings...just most things grossed me out)
• Frequent bathroom trips (for awhile I was getting up 5plus times in a night) 
• Crazy, vivid weird dreams

I think those are the highlights....good times! Some things have subsided as the second trimester has started though. It has not been smooth sailing, but we are really grateful to be expecting a new baby around July 1st. 

Also, flashback to my pregnancy with Jude at 14 weeks. Pretty sure I had to push out my stomach a little bit to even look this far along. 

Hope you are enjoying your last day of 2013! We are planning on making shrimp and broccoli pasta and homemade ice cream...and probably going to bed before the turn of the new year...

cheers!

Five things on Friday

I started this post last week...apparently it takes me two weeks to write a really short post...here goes nothing...

1. My little sister got married last weekend! Crazy stuff.

2. Fun printed burlap from Joann's! Made this little banner with the burlap and some bias tape.  (Also note the one picture in the window pane. I can't decide if I want pictures in it or for it just to be simple...)

3. I am loving this book. 

4. We got this chair at a flea market for free. The price is hard to beat - free-ninety-free - but I am not sure if I can recover it or if it will end up on the side of the road in our neighborhood shortly. 

5. I am bracing myself for the Christmas season, which I am anticipating starting now. It sort of makes me sad. I love Christmas, but I am hoping fall doesn't get ushered out too quickly seeing as the the winter will surely be long in New England. 

Happy Weekend! 

Linking up...

thoughts on sleep.

i miss it.

since we moved the summer before last, jude has been on a baaaad sleeping track. from what i can remember, he slept ok in Virginia. once we started the moving process last summer, he started waking in the middle of the night. that became a habit all summer long that took until october of last year.

however, he never has slept as late as he used to. i am afraid he is just one of those people that doesn't need a ton of sleep. philip is sort of like that. i happen to be one of those people that prefers a lot of sleep. i am not exactly a night or morning person, but i just like to have enough sleep.

right now our schedule has been:  bed time around 7-7:30pm. jude used to sleep until 6am (which was still a struggle for me), but despite it getting darker in the mornings and black out curtains AND blinds (!), jude has been waking at 5am. argggg. plus even if we just let him cry it out or give him his pacifier, he is too noisy for us to continue to sleep and i know he can get out of crib, which is somewhat terrifying.

so, please, anyone out there have any sleep tips for two-year-olds?

we love having the evenings that philip is actually home to ourselves, but i desperately miss sleeping past 5-6am. we also have never noticed a difference with his sleep no matter what time he goes to bed. homeboy has not slept in since i do not know when.

oh, also to cope, we have taken turns getting up with Jude. i do not know how we would make it otherwise. oh and coffee. and jesus.

source // 

*is this post too dramatic? i'm sorry. 

jude is two!

how fitting that we celebrated at saranac, our second home? with our crazy fall schedule - my sister emily gets married in early november plus the normal crazy fall Young Life schedule, we decided just to keep it simple and celebrate at camp since we were going to be there on Jude's actual birthday. our 30 leaders and leaders in training helped sing to Judah and I made oatmeal cookies and put mini reeses in them. i also made one of my fall favorites a pumpkin spice latte. 

we seem to have hit the terrible twos early, but jude seems to be turning a corner and is more and more fun and lovable every day. 

a few words about judah at two

+ loves to play with trucks, trains, anything that pushes

+ is saying more and more every day, but is still not a big talker

+ favorite word: no (this can be frustrating at times...) & truck

+ favorite book: oddly enough, a book that my parents had made about me when I was baby seems to be one of his faves

+ sleeps through the night 7ish pm - 6ish am, but we still wish he was a little later of a sleeper

+ loves thomas the train & anything on trucks

+ still loves the nursery or any opportunity to play with other kids & new toys

+ when we say i love you, he will come and give us a kiss 

here is a quick video from camp of the north shore leaders singing to jude (sorry the quality is being funny)

shop update

i have been busy adding new items to my shop. 

here are a few of my favorites! 

i will be adding more magnets soon, but here is a new one. the triangle fabric was designed by me. 

 i had some requests for hokie fabrics...perfect for fall! 

finally, i have add more hair ties + just added headbands to the mix again. i love these arrows + aztec headbands! 

thanks for checking in! be back soon with a two year old baby boy update!

follow along for new products / coupons here: instagram // twitter // facebook

an honest review of the lappjung rug

I have been thinking about doing this review for awhile so here we are. Perhaps you have seen this IKEA rug online. I am sure that's the first place I saw it. I think I saw it initially on a home blog or two and then on IKEA's website. 

Perhaps you saw it looking cute here on a beautiful mess' blog... 

It wasn't exactly what I had in mind for our living room, but it was $70 at IKEA so I thought it was worth a shot. (They have re-done the style of it and took off the pop of color on the edges and upped the price a little bit) I thought "let's be trendy hipsters." Okay, that was not my total thought process, but it is a very trendy rug that may be out of style by next spring. How long can the tribal trend last anyway?

So we brought it home and laid it out and eventually decided to keep it. 

(we have a made a few changes to the living room since these pictures)

However, that was then and this is now. 

The rug is cute. Yes. I still enjoy my living room and feeling like I am on top of current fashion trends for the season, but unless you like to see every single speck of dirt, etc. that lands on your carpet I would not recommend this rug. The white seems to make any little thing that does not belong on the carpet a little more obvious. And as seen in the photo above almost looks like it has weird smudges of black on it now. 

Plus I am not a vacuum the living room every day kind of gal. (does that type of gal exist?) I don't mind say 2-3 times a week, but I feel like 5 days a week is asking a lot and that's the maintenance of this rug demands. Boo. 

Perhaps this rug could work in a bedroom or an office, a room that does not have a lot of traffic, but our living room gets a lot of use. I am not sure how much longer me and the lappljung rug's relationship is going to last. 

Do you have this rug? Do you have a different impression? Or is it just the result of having any rug with white in it? 

one year in new england

We rounded our first year in New England in August. It's hard to believe that last August we pulled into the North Shore of Boston and it was all new. We have adjusted and...are continuing to adjust. It's funny to me how whenever a season changes I feel a little anxious. It's like a reminder of the change and how much really feels new here. I have mixed feelings about fall coming. The winter was really hard last year. It was dark and snowy and icy especially after Christmas, but when it finalllly got warm (ish) in May, it made me a little queasy just because it reminded me of what it was like when we moved here. Weird?

With that said, here are five things that I am loving about living here so far...

1... I am so grateful that we have a house we really love here. There is still a lot to do, but generally it's great.

just bought the house! (left)                     nemo snowstorm (right)

2...Fresh local food. My two favorite spots are Richardson's for fresh milk and eggs (& ice cream) and Tendercrop Farm in Newbury. Both are a bit of a drive (about 20 minutes in opposite directions) so I make these trips on different days. But both have tractors and cows to look at - which Jude loves now. Richardson's sell a gallon of whole organic local milk for $2.60....can you beat that??

3...The people. I feel like because of the type of neighborhood we are in we are more social than we were in Virginia. We love our neighbors. We take turns grocery shopping for each other. We spontaneously eat meals together. We love being near to Gordon College and Gordon-Conwell Seminary and the community of people that are here because of those two schools. We love the leaders we are working with from both schools too and they have already become so dear to us.

4...Living near Boston. We do not get into the city all that much. We live about 30 minutes North, but we love having the train run through town. We can hear it from our house and Jude listens for it as it chugs by. And a trip into the city is always fun.

5...There's probably other things, but for five I am going to go with flea markets, awesome antique stores and free stuff. I find more things on the side of the road than I know what to do with. Often they are things we could really use and it's great. 

Life is different here in a lot of ways, but as Philip reminded me when we moved initially, we still end the day together and that does not change. 

bridal parties

hello all. 

i feel like i should start with a greeting because i so rarely blog. i honestly think about blogging a few times a week. but then...i just do not. so sorry if you were wondering the scuttlebutt is in my world, you could just check instagram or twitter. 

we had a very full summer that i have a few pictures i can share soon, but for now i wanted to share a new idea i had. i occasionally do bridal party gifts and love getting to be a part of that special day! 

so i wanted to make one delightful button a little bit more accessible to brides....

(these two weddings are both friends from richmond, va and they are wearing one delightful button earrings)

for bridal parties, we are doing a discount - that is already added in & you can simply purchase the number you need for your bridal party. i can customize from earrings i already have listed or do a special fabric or color flower to fit your wedding colors. 

and then i will do custom gift wrapping for your bridesmaids...

or specify that you would just like for me to send the gift wrapping supplies 

and you can wrap them yourself. (this might be helpful if you chose different earrings for different bridesmaids)

not a bad deal if i do say so myself. 

be back soon? maybe? 

happy monday! 

perks of my "job"

i really love working with small local shops. most of the shops i sell in are close enough that i can deliver their orders directly to them. the other day jude and i took a little trip about 20 minutes up the road to rockport, ma. it is beautiful...especially in the summer. 

we enjoyed a chocolate filled croissant, one of my favorites.

starting to add this new little stamp on the backs my earrings + accessories. 

happy weekend! cheers to the heat wave almost breaking...but not yet today! we're looking at a heat index of 110! 

my love language: flea markets + yard sales

Our house is coming together and still feels like a major work in progress at the same time. Here is Jude prior to leaving for the Adirondacks in early June. Our deck was basically a basketball court. A very dingy basketball court for a very sweet little basketball player. I bought the hoop at a yard sale for $5.

Philip power-washed the deck once we got back from camp in July. And it looks so much better. And yard sale purchase for the win again...

Can you believe got this at a yard sale? Pier One, purchased the year prior and let's just say we saved about $1,000. God frequently takes care of us through yard sales. It is sort of silly, but I do find that to be true by the way we find the exact thing we were hoping for that we could never afford at full price. 

We have been also looking for newel posts at flea markets. Newel posts...those bannister things if you are not familiar. So far we have no quite found what we are looking for. And our stairs unfortunately still have unfinished steps (no hardwood) and one of those awesome half dry walls. 

Our flea market of choice is this happy place called Todd Farm Flea Market in Rowley, MA. It opens at I want to say 5am, but I have never made it out there before 6:30am and by then it is packed with vendors and people. It is my mothership. We usually grab some iced dunkin donuts or this week we stopped at Marty's a local delicious donut place in Ipswich. 

We stroll Jude man around and look for treasures. Hold me back because seriously, I could buy so much. 

Here are a few of my treasures from this week: 

And this is as far as we have gotten with them: 

(spray painted the B grey - scored the B for $10)

The little wooden box is being used for incoming mail and sunglasses, just counter storage in our kitchen. 

And the antlers I will do something fun with. So far they are gold tipped. I found a really cool oval shaped frame that I considered buying and mounting the antlers in the middle. One of the men working a booth asked if I were going to do some sort of voodoo worship and I said no....

Other finds recently from Todd Farm...

We also found this fireplace there (taken from a Harvard apartment) & painted it white. Philip thinks it should be painted a different color...thoughts? 

And this little table from a house in Cape Cod. Philip thought the seller said he got it from a cape as in the style house, but I am pretty sure no one would feel the need to tell you that got a table from a certain style house. (e.g. I got this table from a colonial...not necessary information)

There are all kinds of people at the flea market. There are some booths that are pure junk. And there are some that are the best kind of old stuff. There are also ladies that know how to style their booths and mark up the prices, but I am generally not looking for that type of thing. 

I have to laugh too because every time I have gone I see these girls - probably in their twenties - who get all dressed up hipster, dressy and march around like they own the place. Sometimes they have a little dog as an accessory. I feel like they think they are on some sort of vintage, repurposing home show. But I have never seen a camera crew with them. Philip doesn't understand why I think its funny, but its probably because I secretly wish I was them and had my own tv show too. 

Todd Farm closes in I want to say October so I have got to get my fix before the season closes. Its seriously tempting to me to go every week until then, but we'll see. 

So I am blogging about my house today...who knows what I will blog about next? 

short update + featured: time out new york

first of all - happy 4th! this is one of my first fourth of july's not at a young life camp since philip and i have been married...so it is somewhat hard to figure out how to do this thing. at camp the schedule just moves on like normal, with no fireworks usually. however, i don't think fireworks are in our future this year because they start about 2 hours after jude's bedtime and seeing that he has been getting up at 5am since getting back from camp, we are not going to keep him up two additional hours to see if he like fireworks or is startled by them.

i should share some about camp, but i am not going to right now. it was fun, and exhausting. much of the time i felt like a single mom because philip's schedule is so demanding. that sounds dramatic. i really don't know how single mom's do it though. i'll try to share some about camp sooner or later. we did get a family kayak ride around girl scout island , which is for sale if you have 3 million to spare.

also just wanted to pop in to share that my seersucker earrings have been featured in timeout new york magazine...

i do love seersucker - and bring back the seersucker fabric every summer because it is classic.

enjoy your fourth!

katie

back from the beach + hair ties on sale!

 alrighty. back from north carolina and virginia. it was a great packed 10 days and we are gearing up for saranac (our month in the adirondacks).

here's a quick snapshot of us at the wedding we got to be in. jude was the ring bearer (pictured below), philip officiated and i was a bridesmaid. the wedding was the one of our dear friends.

jude did not really fulfill his duties as ring bearer. he got fussy right before i walked down the aisle and i had to carry him. then he exited the ceremony shortly after with our friends who watched him.

but for now, hair ties are on sale at buffalo brickyard...so pop on over for a deal on them!

massachusetts house update. living room!

so much has happened with our house progress, but have not really taken the time to update you all besides on instagram. things are really coming together. yes - there are some serious gaping holes in the whole look of the house. not literally, but you know, design holes. incomplete projects. we still do not have porch furniture...our yard is cleaner, but still a mess....we do not have a headboard...lots of walls are still bare, but let me tell you, this place is shaping up. i am really liking the way it looks so i am going to try to give a few room tours in the next few weeks.

so here is the living room...

this is the view from the entryway. so many thrifted, craiglist, flea market finds...just the way i like it! some details below

mantel found at a flea market (from a harvard apartment circa 1800s) which will be white soon!

bench - my parent's old bench - painted martha stewart sea glass

basket at the door...needs to be moved, but found in ipswich on the side of the road

rug...ikea

wait, refresher...

one of the big changes we wanted to make was to cover that pointless bookshelf over the fireplace...so we did and moved the tv over. then in the funny little nook to the right of the fireplace, philip built a cabinet and shelves. right now the shelves are just sort of filled with random things - hope to do something a little more functional, yet stylized in the future. 

the chair was one i found on the side of the road and recovered myself. 

love this little table we got last week at todd farm flea market. 

which matches my quilt from my g-ma, which are throughout the house. 

(apparently my grandfather liked to collect quilts, which i think it brilliant and i am enjoying parts of his collection)

we love restoration hardware couch that we got on craiglist for $20 - insert happy dance! 

we still have a few things to do...

not sure what to do about the plaid chair...hopefully recover it - not myself - with something that matches the room. 

peace out girl scouts! more tours to come. 

hope.

one of my favorite blogs mentioned this quote by mr. rogers, as well. i liked the whole video verses the quote i mentioned in my previous post.

"...because if you look for the helpers, you'll know that there's hope." 

thankful for his wise + true words. 

perhaps i'll be back sooner or later with a post. 

k

boston.

i had started to draft this post on sunday. obviously, everyone now knows the marathon was on monday. it was patriots day, our first patriots day here. did not know that was a holiday until recently. the town we live in started hanging flags over the weekend and philip initially thought it was in preparation for memorial day. saturday we had a trip planned into the city to see Philip's family who had come in town to watch a cousin run. we took the T in and had a great day. Jude really does pretty well in the city - happy to sit in his stroller and look around. 

we got off the T here. which is still a wow for me. this was the site of the boston massacre. and i am starting to know my way around, which makes us feel like locals even though we have been here less than a year. 

we went to lunch at the union oyster house - the oldest restaurant in the country still in operation...pretty crazy. they have a booth called the kennedy booth because JFK loved to eat in privacy in this booth. 

we walked around the city for a few hours - stopping by bunker hill to let Jude run around some. (side note, looks like the washington monument - have heard it was built first here, not sure though)

there was an excitement in the city preparing for the race. yellow and blue jackets symbolizing you were running scattered through the crowds. i love watching races. i even sort of love running races. i ran cross country and track in high school and ran a marathon at the end of college. now whenever i watch races, it makes me want to start running again. don't hold me to that though. 

we have some friends in the city and we had a friend coming to run. we had considered coming back in town and on monday to see them, but then our judgement as tired parents was - i don't think judah will like sitting there watching...it will be crazy on the T...

so we did not go. and we are so grateful. i know that the likelihood of us being anywhere near the bombings would have been so slim, but we would have taken the train and the chaos and fear that people endured while in the city the on monday sounds terrifying. 

so today, i am grateful. grateful that God spared us of that. thankful that while this was all happening my sweet boy was napping at home in his crib. and sad for others that were not spared this tragedy. sad that this begets fear. and that i will be slower to spontaneously take a trip into the city because of the uncertainty of what went on and the unknown of why. and we want to know why, but does it really help? there is no good reason for this. 

we live in a fallen, broken world. but there is hope. hatred does not win. i love this quote by mr. rogers that you have probably seen circulating... “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

and more than that, i believe there is a God of peace that desires justice in this and his heart is even more broken over this tragedy than we are. and that he heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (psalm 147:3).