Good Things

1. Ocean air is good for the soul.  It was so nice to get away with my little family.  We spent the weekend walking the shores of Cannon Beach (with baby in Ergo), breathing in the salty sea air, and soaking up the gorgeous sunshine on a beautiful fall weekend.

2. Riley has started to coo!  It is the sweetest thing!  She gurgles and giggles and makes all kinds of adorable baby noises, but one of her "favorite" sounds is awfully reminiscent of "Hi," which she sometimes echoes when we say hello back to her.  Therefore we've decided it is her first word :)

3. Came home to fresh flowers on my doorstep last week from the huz to celebrate our anniversary.  We opted out of getting each other gifts this year to save money but I was pleasantly surprised by a blushing bouquet of magenta roses and white gerber daisies to say "I love you." The gesture was greatly appreciated.  In turn, I bought him a cannoli (his favorite) at Whole Foods. That's love :)

4. Fall is alive in Seattle, and made even more beautiful by being pleasantly accompanied by crisp blue skies.  Our wonderfully sunny summer has blessed us with an especially colorful fall, everywhere I look the trees are bursting with vibrant red, orange, and golden leaves.  Love this season!

5. Friends who bring food to new parents with a baby.  I can't tell you how lovely this is.  I never appreciated the true gift of a home cooked meal until I was on the receiving end.  It's glorious!  For those moments when you're tired and starving and you've had one too many frozen pizzas...  Thank you dear friends!

6. New (to us) episodes of How I Met Your Mother on Netflix. My husband and I LOVE this show and are slowly making our way through the final season via Netflix.  Oh how we've missed the inside jokes, the blind side high-5 of Marshall and Lily, and the will-they, won't-they dance of Robin and Barney.  To us, the resurgence of HIMYM after bedtime is Legen (wait for it) -dary!

7. Last Friday night was my first workout post baby.  I figured I'd dive in head first and attend my favorite spin class.  Dark lights, pumping music, sweat flowing, these workouts are intense, and yes, it was challenging, but I did it!  Gave myself a hearty pat on the back!

8. Receiving my new teaching certificate in the mail.  I'm "officially" legit for another 6 years! Woot, woot!

9. Halloween party at my PEPS (moms) group.  What a sight to see!  Try taking a picture of 4 ladybugs, a dinosaur, Princess Leia, an old fashioned girl, Superman, a monkey, and a pirate all wriggling around on the floor in a circle.  Priceless!

10. My little bug is 8 weeks on Thursday!  I sure love being her mommy.

image/bloom

Good Things

1. We've finished almost ALL of our projects before baby!  This included: painting the exterior of our house, trim, and front door, hung up all the nursery artwork, checked those last few items off our baby registry, tackled breast pump set-up, among other things...

2. Discovering the HBO series, The Newsroom.  Might just be my new favorite show, even if you're not a "newsy" person, this show is pretty good!  Thank you HBO for your clerical error that resulted in 3 months of this premium channel for us!

3. Making homemade yellow plum jam with my mom.  Yellow plum jam reminds me of summers spent  in Southern Oregon growing up, picking plums from my grandparents tree.  We had ourselves a Saturday night in, boiling, sugaring, and canning, and I've been enjoying the fruits of our labor for breakfast every day since.

4. Finding a bridesmaid dress that fits!  Have I told you, I'm slated to be my best friend's matron of honor 11 days after our due date.  Yeah, cutting it close, much?  Anyway...I finally found a dress that fits pre and (I'm hoping) post baby bump, that matches with the other bridesmaids.  Hooray!

5. I'm enjoying the slow change of seasons to autumn.  Admittedly, it is a strange feeling to not be preparing for school this year, since my August is usually marked with back to school organization (and jitters), but I'm enjoying the transition a new season.  My husband and I ate dinner on the deck the other night and noticed a hint of chill in the air - as if fall was declaring its impending presence.  Plus, with fall comes all of my favorite things; pumpkin-flavored everything, new fashions (and baby clothes) in all the stores, crunchy, color-changing leaves.  It's just around the corner!

6. My husband is the sweetest.  He spend Sunday night preparing snack bags for me for the week.  These include cut up apples, almonds, veggies, etc. basically munchies for me during the day, but pre-packed in ziploc baggies, ready to go in case we need to rush to the hospital (since they recommended we bring small snacks for during labor).  I should really be the one doing this since I'm not working, but he was determined to contribute :)

7. This amazing weather.  This might be the most beautiful summer Seattle has seen in years; sunshine, blue skies, warm but not scorching temps, it has been downright blissful!

8. Nesting.  I guess my nesting instinct has kicked in - or so my husband claims. In the past few weeks, I've planted our window boxes out front, did a deep clean of the refrigerator, reorganized parts of the basement, and been a vacuum bandit.  I will say, I am enjoying the pristine cleanliness of our house at present. :)

9. Knowing there's only 5 more days until the due date!

10. The growing excitement to meet our baby girl!  What will she look like?  How much will she weigh?  It's a crazy feeling waiting for a baby, but we couldn't be more ready or excited :)

image/teacupsinpeony

Good Things

1. Finishing my pro cert (for all you non-teachers out there, you have to get re-certified every couple of years to be a teacher...it's this long, arduous process with a 3 Entry portfolio, yadda yadda, anyway it's submitted.  woohoo!)

2. Seeing the warm glow of pink light illuminate our baby's room.  I just bought this pretty pink lampshade for our touch lamp this weekend, now resting on the baby's dresser/changing table.  It casts a glow of soft warm light across the room, it makes me smile as I can just imagine her little body wriggling on the changing pad underneath.

3. Croissants on the weekend (and weekdays if especially desired now that school's out).  One of my favorite weekend rituals at our cozy little neighborhood bakery.

4. My sweet cat Jenga cuddling up on my husband's lap last night - the first time she's remotely acted like her old self in weeks.  Hoping and praying this most recent blast of antibiotics and immunosuppressants works this time around.

5. Being able to hear our baby's heartbeat more often (since Week 29, we now we go every 2 weeks instead of every month). The whoosh, whoosh, whoosh just never gets old.

6. These banana crumb muffins I made last weekend. I wholeheartedly meant to do a blog post about them, but literally ate almost all of them before I could snap a photo...for real.

7. Looking ahead to next weekend, for fun in the sun in Sonoma with my girlfriends for my bestie's bachelorette party.  As the pregnant matron of honor, I'm volunteering my services as "designated driver" solely for the bachelorette's benefit :)

8. Lucking out finding Rainier cherries for the meager price of $2.99 a pound at my local Asian market!!  This may seem pricy to some, but considering these sweet gems are usually priced upwards of $6 a pound, I thought this was quite the steal!

9. Finding myself inspired by Jora and contemplating hosting a "pantry party" like this to encourage post-baby visiting with friends.

10. A new ritual of reading to our baby in bed. We started this last night, my husband picked out two books we received as gifts and we took turns reading aloud to her.  Last night's reads: My First Book of Sushi and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  After the caterpillar gorges himself on junk and then feels relief after eating a leaf, my husband quipped, "Moral of the story is eat organic," a comment that made me laugh out loud, perfect for a guy who thinks North-westerners take their organic foods a little too seriously.  But yes, I'd say that moral is true.  

image/mrsbliss

Apple Picking

Have you ever been apple picking? I keep seeing blog posts around the web weaving tales of apple picking adventures and now I'm inspired. In my life, I've been pumpkin picking, blueberry picking, and blackberry picking, but I have yet to pick my own apples. And I think it's about time I start!

Many bloggers have recommended this website where you can scout out local farms or orchards in your area to "get picking," so that's where I'm going to start!

Have you ever been apple picking?

image/mainemomma

5-Year Journal

I bought this 5-year, one-line-a-day memory book per Nicole's suggestion, and I have to say it was one of the best purchases! I've always been a journaler or "diary-keeper," but as I've gotten older and my schedule busier I find I write less and less every year. But I always love looking back at entries past, reading what I liked and disliked, rereading my take on both the frivolous and monumental event in my life, and I'm comforted that I wrote these little moments down.

This little 5-year journal is fabulous! It has room for no more than a few lines a day (about 2-3 sentences), and tracks the dates over 5 years, so you can compare your April 5th, 2010 to your April 5, 2015...and see how your life has grown and changed. I've had mine for about 4 weeks now, and already I'm enjoying flipping back and seeing and remembering the little things.

image/chroniclebooks

Find Your Mr. Darcy

Love this card! Perfect to send to the Pride & Prejudice fan whose aleady found her Mr. Darcy.

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Fill in the Blank

What do you love most about that special someone? Well...fill in the blank! "I Love_______...." I am terribly picky when it comes to selecting cards for people. I linger in the card aisle for at least 30 minutes every time, I constantly hem and haw over what's in my cart on etsy...even more so for special occasions like birthdays and holidays! This is why I love the flexibility of these sweet Valentine's Day cards. Now you get to tell that someone how you really feel instead of what Hallmark wants you to say!

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via youaremyfave

I Heart Fall

image/marthastewart
via jordanferney

Victory!

This weekend was epic in Washington football. My alma mater the University of Washington Huskies defeated #3 ranked USC in the ultimate Pac-10 upset of the season! USC is a tough-to-beat, all-star team that historically pretty much destroys everyone and everything in their path. Led by our new coach Sarkisian and QB Jake Locker, the Huskies managed to out-match the Trojans 16-13 at home. Now USC is out of the top 10, and Washington is ranked (for the first time in 6 years). Quite a milestone!

Seattle was a frenzy of excitement Saturday evening, with the new catchphrase "Bark for Sark," on everyone's lips! It was a great day to be a Husky!!

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Sold!

It's official - we got the house!!! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. We received mutual acceptance Friday morning, and got the inspection completed this weekend. Everything is going according to plan, and I'm excited to move in at the end of the month. Here's to the next step, my adventures as a homeowner!

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He Said, She Said

I'm such a sucker for a fun label - I'll usually buy that over the recommended wine anyday. Loving this label "He Said, She Said," Australian wine by Lake House Denmark Wines.

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Lemony Goodness

You know how there are some products you just love, despite all the other appealing bottles and containers available in the aisle at the store...often times I try out the new ones, wooed by their intriguing labels or shiny packaging, but afterward I always find myself gravitating toward the same reliable products...Such as C.O. Bigelow's line in lemon scent. My absolute fave is the lemon hand wash, it's fresh, citrusy, and clean, perfect for your guest bathroom. The best part is - this line of products is available offline at Bath & Body Works.

image/dieline

Kid Apps

Being a teacher - I thought this was quite the cool program. In case you didn't know, kids love cell phones - pretending to talk on the phone, playing with the keys - I mean the iphone is a child's wonderland. If they're going to gravitate toward the technology - you might as well learn something right? ABC Animals is an interactive alphabet flashcard application for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, practice your handwriting while you play. Audio accompanies each card providing a letter name, associated animal name and the phonetics for each letter - ingenious!

image/criticalmatter
via designmom

Surprise, It's Your Wedding!

From the folks that brought you this and this, check out this surprise wedding rehearsal in the middle of the City. This lucky NYC couple got hitched at city hall, and ended up with a surprise wedding reception complete with a bridal party of strangers, gifts, cake, and dancing. The couple was told this surprise event was a gift from the Mayor's Office - while it was actually the latest creative genius of theater group, Improv Everywhere. What a surprise!

video/youtube
via cupofjo

Going on a Picnic? Here We Go!

How perfect is this picnic-in-a-suitcase? Don't have the time to get out amongst nature, then create your own outdoorsy mountain-scape by adding a few natural touches to an everyday briefcase or suitcase and voila - you've got a picnic to go! Check out the how-to over at DesignSponge.
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via blackeiffel

Peachy Keen

Love these fruity phrase note cards by VivaLaViolette.

image/etsy

Sweet Hearts

Love these save the dates! Perfect for high-school sweetheart wedding.image/brooklynbride

Forest Friends

Fancy a forest friend? Send a friendly critter to a friend today, you know the thrill of having actual mail in your mailbox!

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Amazing

Sometimes you just need a little reminder of the obvious...

image/etsy via designcrush

Make Me a Mason

The rain has descended, the air is crisp, hot cider time has arrived. Have a few friends over and cozy up around the fire (or in my case...space heater) and warm your hands with some mulled spiced cider.

Feeling festive? Serve your spicy apple concoction in a mason jar for a down home, fresh-pressed-cider feel.

image/hostesswiththemostess