EvY at HomE

My ma, brother, Angie, and I are going on a road trip to see Liz in Arizona this weekend. It'll be a short trip and we're going to spend some time with Liz before her baby is born and are bringing her some baby supplies and help her prepare the space for the little guy. I'm not super psyched to be in a car for 12 hours (nausea and lots of peeing) but it should be fun! Have a good weekend everybody.

For the past few months I've accumulated a few items of importance. Some I had on hand and others were purchased and have now become the supplies of pregnancy. It's a list that's specific to me but I think it's general enough to help you or someone you know survive the fun and magic and all that of being knocked up. Maybe you can even put together a little present for a friend you know is pregnant with some of the items included in the list. 1) Epsom Salts: Around the second trimester your body starts aching because your belly is stretching and your muscles get sore. One of the best things to help this and all muscle aches is to just sit in a nice warm bath with epsom salts. If you can stand smells, a few drops of lavender or peppermint will help relax you even more. 2) Be Band: Before you commit to maternity pants you might feel like using your regular pants as long as possible and who can blame you, I mean, you spent all those months running and working out t...

The other day at Ikea I came across a very charming little living room that featured the same sofa we have the Karlstad (in the prettier lighter gray) and showed off the new customizable Besta . Which I'm a big big fan of since I'm a big fan of customizing furniture to suit your lifestyle. I really like the TV unit situation they had already because it was chock full of storage behind doors and a touch of open shelving for use to display pretty things. In the living room currently I've been scheming in my brain that behind the sofa, instead of the the sofa table we have now  it would be great to have some sort of large cabinet to make room for storage that can be hidden behind doors (aka unsightly kid things). With the loss of the guest room, I'm trying to maximize store possibilities everywhere in the house and this little combination seems just perfect: They even placed it right behind a Karlstad sofa so I know it's already the perfect height and since ...

They sold out of the Kate Spade calendars so I went with one from Rifle Paper Co (one of the cutest stationery stores around bar none). I went with the American cities one since Matt and I won't be able to go anywhere in July due to the arrival of a certain someone around America's birthday. Ironically, the month of January was New York, as if to remind me where I was not. The winning city for this year was either going to be a road trip of the South or Austin. Maybe next year we'll do Texas with a little cowgirl or cowboy in tow...

The other day Matt mentioned an idea that made so much sense I didn't realize how much I'd already been sold on it awhile ago. He said that when we re-did the backyard (which we are trying to do before the end of May) he didn't want to use a lot of grass because with the dogs, he didn't want them to ruins it. To which I say, yes, no grass. Who needs grass? We have a nice patch in the front yard to picnic on but the backyard is begging to be the hang out lounge-y space for young and old and we don't need grass for that! I didn't even realize how much the idea has been percolating in my cabeza until I looked at my pinterest board and realized I already dig the backyards with mostly a lot of greenery and a place to hang outside and enjoy the beautiful California weather instead of being cooped up inside loving the air conditioning. A big outdoor living room.  And of course my favorite backyard inspiration is grass-less. And Michelle before yo...

It was a little sad to see it go but it had to happen. It's crazy how much room there was once it was removed. Oh yeah, there's still another queen mattress that was ours before we upgraded to the California King. This mattress we're hoping will end up with my sister Liz. And right where the mattress is is where I hope to place the crib. We went to Ikea and bought a few boring but important items and I spent the evening organizing a dresser that really is in no rush to be organized. I dunno… somehow opening up a bag of newborn diapers and putting them in a drawer helped set in the reality of a baby. Like I've posted in the ideas for a nursery board I plan on sticking a changing pad on top of this dresser so I wanted to keep items we'd need for related to that kinda thing here. On the top left little box where I have one tube of sunblock I want to add baby first aid stuff and medicine, the little box in front of it will have baby butt stuff like diaper rash l...

Funny thing about the future child whose gender we don't know yet. First off we have a girl name but no boy name. The girl's name determines pretty much the overall colors and decor of her nursery. Our girl name is Alice and I'm drawing inspiration a lot from the 1951 Disney film Alice in Wonderland, which has been one of my favorite films for decades. Little Alice's overall color scheme comes from her outfit actually, and I always imagined a blue room with white bedding and a black crib .  My favorite thing about going with the Alice scheme is that on top of incorporating all the other cool elements from the film like a bunny rabbit, playing cards, roses, cool hats, dodo birds, an adorable cat named Dinah, a tea party (I MEAN, HELLO, COULD THAT BE MORE PERFECT FOR OLE EVY?), but if you recall at the end of the film, Alice plays a round of croquet with flamingos. I even have a fantastic version of the book I'd put in her room on proud display where the cover is...

We spent the weekend in a zombie-like state, sleeping, eating (or trying to) but I did begin the project of clearing out the guest room. Though funnily enough clearing it out involved not the guest closet itself, at least not yet, but it did involve a few re-shuffles of the hallway closet. The top two shelves house the decorative items that I rotate in and out when I get bored or by season and are supplies for dinner parties, like candles and the like. The very top shelf houses a boatload of picture frames I cannot possibly use in this house and honestly need to just bite the bullet and go through them and just leave a few and give away the rest. Since we're losing the guest room (and gaining a baby!) I wanted to hang onto a few guest room supplies for when the office is a guest room (and will house my mother during the first few days with aforementioned baby). The 2nd to last shelf was cleared of a few items and the towels that were formerly in the guest room dresser were mov...

I was supposed to be on my way to New York by now but decided my body was gonna revolt (and already has) about all the work days in a row without time off so I asked if I could skip the New York portion which my boss understood and so this morning, we flew home. If it was just me I would have done it, I can handle no sleep and all that. But it's not just me anymore. This week I'll be taking it easy, shopping for maternity clothes, and maybe starting a mini purge of things around the house to make room for little things. I've begun stockpiling baby wipes and already received a few baby things from my mother in-law so it's about time to start a big ole project before our little project arrives. - iPad Post

You don't need much to make a place look good.