everly mae

naming a child is really quite the experience

and for the mr. and I it seemed pretty effortless

we did not officially start talking names until we knew if we were having a boy or girl

and once we knew, it still wasn't a major conversation

one thing we did know was the name we had always talked about for a girl

was no longer an option

it had become too popular, and when both parents have very common names

we wanted something a little more unique, without being crazy

when I first got pregnant I had an interesting conversation with one of our uncles

where he starting telling us how the baby will name herself

and you will just know when you have landed on the right name

now, I must admit I kind of left that night thinking, umm, okay

but the craziest part is that I now completely agree with this statement

the mr. and I never could come up with a boy name

and we always kind of joked that it was because we were not going to have a boy

and that happened

and then as soon as we found out little lewis was a girl

nothing but E names came to me

I would send the husband several texts with names that I loved

and ALL of them started with the letter E

he started to get that there was a direction with the name

while perusing popular names from the 1920's & 1930's 

I came up with the name Everly

and I knew it was it

the husband loved it pretty much right away

but took his time letting me know that it was "the name"

his reason for waiting?

he said it just seemed "too easy to name her"

the middle name was set years ago

Mae is the most beautiful middle name I've ever heard

it also happens to be the middle name of my best friend

and the name of a band that has been a pretty big part of my adult life

so there you have it

how we came up with the name for our little E

it has just the right amount of vintage elegance for us

and it is different without being crazy

Everly Mae, we cannot wait to meet you

thank you to Meg for making so many beautiful signs for the upcoming baby shower

they are even more amazing than I could have imagined

having artistic family members is very beneficial

happy birthday to the mr.

well the husband turned 31 today

and unfortunately he has to work late

so we will be celebrating this weekend

and instead I'm spending the evening with this little one

and yes, Luna is in E's crib

and no she shouldn't be

and yes I probably should be getting her out ASAP and not taking pictures

but she is SO cute, I just couldn't help myself

and the funniest part is she completely ignored the crib for months

still wasn't having it when the mattress was put in

but as soon as we put these cute little sheets on

she found her way in very fast

so we will keep working on it

and no, she is not in there right now, but being a good girl and sitting with me

on the sofa, just like a good fur baby should

time to get crafty

so I've decided that Pinterest is the best & worst thing to happen when party planning

there are so many amazing ideas out there

and it is all about figuring out which ones to tackle

so today jessica and I started some projects for the upcoming baby shower

we made some streamers to hang around the tables

and they were super easy and we LOVE how they turned out

and because they are too cute to put away in a drawer for the next month

I decided to hang them in the windows behind E's crib until the shower

(with a little help from Jessica's height)

now I can't wait to keep getting crafty

and see how everything comes together

27 weeks

this week was a busy week for me and baby

putting the final touches on my classroom and starting the first days of school

but all in all, we handled the heat wave and the hours of work like champs

little E is moving so much these days

especially at night when the mr. and I are taking it easy on the sofa

she really likes feeling like she is part of the action by making sure we don't forget

that she is also there

this week I also made a very exciting purchase

my first maternity jeans, and man, are they a bit of heaven

I think that even after the little lady is born I am going to have a hard time giving them up

and on another note, I think stripes should be a staple in every pregnant lady's closet

I am absolutely in love with them

happy friday, and tomorrow we are getting to have a visit from some great friends

that we do not get the chance to see enough

yeah for weekends with friends, and a high temperature finally not in the 100's
oh, and goodbye to my second trimester, third trimester here we come!

26 weeks

last weekend we got to take our weekly bump photo while in santa cruz

and for the record, today I was told for the very first time this pregnancy

how small I look for 6 months!!!

 and beyond the awesomeness of the compliment

the very best part was who that compliment came from -

the secretary from the middle school I was hired back to last night!

it sure felt great waking up this morning for the first time since last march

when I received my first pink slip for this coming school year

actually knowing where I was going to be working for the 2012/2013 school year

tomorrow I'll fill you in on the details for my new job

but overall, I am so ecstatic and thankful for a great placement

and with baby on the way in a few months

things could have been pretty scary, but they are not

yeah for good news

25 weeks

this week was exciting for me on the pregnancy front

I changed hospitals and will now be delivering with Sutter

and the particular hospital I've chosen is much for suited for my natural birth plan

and they also happen to have one of the lowest c-section rates in the nation

which makes me a happy camper

I met with one of the midwives in their practice

and had the best pre-natal visit I've had to date

no more, wait an hour, see the doctor for five minutes

instead, I waited five minutes, and talked with the midwife for an hour

just what this first time momma needs

while I was there my midwife also didn't agree with all the due date changing 

that I was getting before

she pointed out to me that after six weeks all babies are very different sizes

so changing my date because she was measuring bigger at 20 weeks

didn't seem to make sense to her

so, we are back to the date given at my eight week ultrasound

and if I've been keeping track, I think that puts me back at 25 weeks

free, friendly, & fabulous for your photos

lately, I've been using something that I stumbled on a while back

for some time now I have moved on from doing all my photo editing in iPhoto

and have been using Photoshop actions instead

however, I'm not sure what it is, but I just haven't been happy with my editing

so I have started using PicMonkey instead for most of my photo editing

and the best part is it is a website that you can use

no need to make an account, or download anything to your computer

and it's free

here are some examples of PicMonkey edits:
[not sure how this adorable shoe shot got missed but it was just waiting to be edited]

not only do you have many filter options [tranquil & intrepid tend to be my favs]

you also can get a little funky by adding rounded corners and text as seen above

or do basic edits such as cropping and photo exposure adjustments

now they have some real cheesy features too that I haven't found very useful

but when it comes to wanting to do a quick edit on a photo, it surely gets the job done

and once you are done editing your photo, just save it anywhere on your computer 

then you start fresh with a new photo

hope you find this helpful, figured I would spread the awesomeness
give it a try yourself here

and while we are on the topic, do you have favorite places to edit digital photos?

I would love to hear what else is out there!

a little while back I got help from my friend

Jaymee Srp of the Design Hive and owner of the shop Retro Menagerie

thankfully I had her to help me get going on E's nursery walls

because I had ideas, but no real place to start

we made a plan, got what we needed, and executed all in one afternoon

just the way I like when getting things done

and yesterday I ordered the perfect mobile - I can't wait to get it

things are really starting to come together, and I couldn't be happier

nursery prints courtesy of Retro Menagerie

frames: Ikea

book ledges: Ikea

embroidery hoops & Fabric: Joann Fabrics

iron tree: Pottery Barn [gifted to me years ago]

"E" changing table lamp: vintage

owl nightlight: vintage

alphabet print: made by me, printed by Retro Menagerie

how we spent our day [anniversary style]

for our anniversary we debated on what exactly to do

we were thinking mini road trip

but then I decided that a day in the car didn't sound super exciting at 6 months pregnant

especially since we will be getting our car fix in soon

when traveling down to southern california for vacation here in a couple of weeks

so instead of the car, we decided to hit up some of our favorite antiquing spots

and well, let's just say that we had some success

I really must say that I cannot pick my favorite find from the day

I am SO in love with the vintage "E" sign we found for the changing table

I put in some new lighting yesterday and she is sure glowing pretty at night

and yes, the little lady's name starts with an "E" 

but we will leave it at that for the moment

and the kitchen cabinet, well, it's simply to die for

I am loving it in our kitchen, it is such the perfect fit

and because any anniversary isn't complete without some pyrex

I had to pick up this Friendship fridgie that the Mr. found for me

and considering it was priced like it was at a thrift store

it was surely coming home with me

could not think of any better way to spend celebrating four years of married life

24 weeks

yes, 24 weeks means two things:

#1 - we missed week 23, you would think I would have more time over the summer

to snap a quick shot, but apparently not

#2 - I'm now officially 6 months along, which seems pretty real

this last week brought some cooler weather, thankfully

and the mr. quickly learned that touching the air conditioning in the car

is no longer an option for him

it was too funny yesterday when I caught him almost turning the air off

and then quickly moved his hand away from the dial, smart man

little lewis is moving SO much these days

not only can I feel her, but the husband has too

not to mention if you are really observant, sometimes you can see her wiggling around

craziness is all I have to say about that

thankfully she is still not keeping me up at night, at least not yet

keeping balance

yesterday I made some major progress in the nursery

with some help from a great friend, Jaymee from The Design Hive

I can't wait to share what we worked on soon

but here is just one of my favorite additions we added to the nursery

trying to keep balance in the nursery with new additions and still keeping to

our design style of mid-century modern is truly my focus

and adding this vintage nursery scale is just what I needed

ten on ten [july 2012]

it has officially been one year since my first ten on ten

and I must admit it is still something that I look forward to every month

and now to get a tad sappy

and to explain why my last photo may seem like deja vu to you

 if you have been reading long

I figured this month, being my one year anniversary of participating in this project

I would re-do one of my favorite images I have taken in the last year

and this time around, I have an additional reason to prove

that love is real

[july 2011]

check out my first year of ten on ten posts here

and as always, thanks to Rebekah from A Bit of Sunshine 

for creating this project

getting crafty

well my first nursery wall art project was pretty simple

and thanks to pinterest, inspiration has not been a problem at all

I have been seeing everywhere in nurseries embroidery hoops used with pretty textiles

so I decided to give it a shot

for now they are propped up on the little lady's dresser

but I'll figure out where exactly to hang them soon enough

also, I've been pretty busy the last two days

and things are quickly starting to look a lot more like a nursery

here's just a peek -

22 weeks

well this week's photo is a little late

and no, you're not missing week 21, the ultrasound tech took it away from me

my due date has been once again changed, now I'm looking closer to 23 weeks than 22

so I'm thinking the entire month of November is fair game for this little lady to arrive

and I'm alright with that

who knows, maybe she'll even come on her very first due date - halloween!

this week's photo has so many things that we love

my patriotic outfit I had to help me celebrate independence day

a very awesome VW bus that is always parked around the corner from our house

[the husband and I have a tad bit of envy for it]

and finally, our little lady

I can admit she's our favorite

girls weekend

well I must admit that I was a little hesitant before leaving for this weekend

a bachelorette party in Lake Tahoe

my only concern was not having complete control over the daily events

something that I like knowing, especially pregnant

packing almost put me over the edge, but I'm so glad that it didn't stop me from going

getting to celebrate a great friend's last weekend out as a single lady

was pretty amazing, even with the little girl along for the ride

not a bad way to end the month of june

little things

one of the best parts of knowing if you are having a little girl or boy

is finally feeling how "real" it is all becoming

one of the fun perks of knowing we are having a little girl this fall

is getting to finally go shopping

and that's what the husband and I did last night

hello target clearance rack - got just a few little things for next summer

 bows, floral, stripes & polka dots

yes please