I'm here!!!

Before you write me off as another one of those bloggers that just fades away, I do have some pretty good excuses.


 Reason #1 being that my iMac (which happens to be on right now) has pretty much died. Every once in a while I can get it to turn on and today I just happened to be in luck. I do have an iPad but blogging on that never seems to be fun. So without a computer at home during the day I have been very limited and not blogging. Jeremiah does have a laptop but he takes it to work and by the time he gets home I am too pooped to blog.

Reason #2, I am 27 weeks pregnant!!! I feel so bad because I haven't even blogged one word about our sweet bundle of joy that will be here around June 15th. So to mock the real announcements of Eli's pregnancy on this blog, here are some mini posts within this big post...

We're EXPECTING Baby #2 in June!!! 

The pregnancy was planned although it happened much faster than expected.  Jeremiah and all of his 5 siblings are 20-22 months apart and he wanted our children to be the same so we tried, and BAM we got PREGNANT!  Eli and this little one will be 21 months apart so while I expect to have my hands full for a while, we are hoping they will get along great.

About the gender...

Of course we went early to find out what we were having, just like with Eli and we found out in December that we are having a baby girl.  In January it was confirmed by Sharp Rees-Stealy and we got this cute profile shot of our little girl to be.

We decided to name her, 

Logo Design by FlamingText.com

Which we love...Jeremiah came up with the first name and Ruth is my twin sisters as well as my paternal grandmothers name.

And here I am 27 weeks pregnant...

I have lots more to share, emotions, excitement, nursery ideas, etc but that is the quick catch up.

Reason #3, I have been watching my sweet nephew since October and with 2 little boys to manage I never have a free moment to sit down let alone blog about life's happenings.  Eli is really enjoying having Preston here on a daily basis and it has been good for him to learn about sharing with littler ones.

So for now, that is the catch up.  I am here, I am well and life is GOOD.

Oh and here is a pic of me with my little love bug...
 
 He is getting so big and I have so much to share about him because he is so full of life and energy and kisses all the time.  Till then...

Backyard Chickens!!!!!

Our newest venture...BACKYARD CHICKENS!!!

Not sure about it but I am accepting it with open arms.  A few years ago...pre-Eli...I watched a Martha Stewart episode about Backyard Chickens and I was all for it.  I was gonna get some chickens, have fresh eggs and be an urban farmer.  Now, I have a 1 year old, a busy wedidng floral business and the thought of taking care of chickens is full of mixed emotions.

So far we have the coop about 80% built and we had 1 chicken but as of late...he is DEAD!  He ACCIDENTALLY jumped out of the box he was in and into an empty bucket of water in the flower studio.  Now I know I should never leave empty buckets with water around because Eli could fall in them but it was a busy wedding weekend and I forgot to empty them.  I never imagined the poor chicken would try to go for a swim!  Poor guy!

We are planning to get about 3 or 4 chickens and this is the little coop we have built.  My sister in law and brother in law are mostly going to be in charge of them but I am sure I will be happy to help here and there.

We still need to construct the door and get 2 dog houses and/or nesting boxes for the hens to lay their eggs.  I will definitely keep you all updated. 

Oh and this is what little Mister was up to while we were building...getting dirty in true country fashion.

Oh and if you have any advice for me I would love to hear from anyone that has backyard chickens.
#backyardchickens

Avocado Face

I fed Eli some delicious avocado a few days ago and as he was eating I was cleaning the kitchen and moving around the house, pretty much I wasn't watching him.  When I came back into the dining room this is what I found!

I love him so much!!!

Sally and the 3 desks

3 desks later (I never shared the other 2) I have the perfect desk/office area.  The 1st desk was one that I was going to refinish or paint but never got around to and then I decided that it was too small.  the 2nd desk was a beast!  It was a corner desk that was very solid and a very nice piece of furniture but it was just too big.  This new desk and shelving unit is just right.  It makes me feel at peace with my work space and that is very important when trying to run an at home business.  Here are the final "progress" pictures.  I still have some cubes to finalize and the top to decorate, but the majority of it is done.

Oh and just so you know what I was working with before...here are some shots of the old desk that was more of a catch all than a desk.  My wonderful husband and awesome brother-in-law had to haul it out and I believe that at one point they wanted to kill me, sorry boys ;).

Overwhelmed

Ever feel overwhelmed as a Mother, Business Person, Wife, Housekeeper, Cook...Woman.  Today I feel overwhelmed!  There is Exquisite Blooms work, housework, DIY projects, shower planning, books to read, tax stuff to prepare, and most importantly a very precious baby to be taken care of.  Today I just feel tired and like it will never get done.  Maybe I need a weekly schedule to help me divide up the work throughout the week.  Or maybe I need to realize that some of these things just won't get done.  Either way I am overwhelmed today.

I know I need to take a breath and let it all go and focus on what needs to be done.  Baby 1st, Exquisite Blooms work 2nd and everything else lumped into 3rd.  Writing it out is making me feel better already.

Step 1...nap time for Eli
Step 2...ExB paperwork

A cute picture of my cutey to brighten my day and remind me that it is about him and everything else comes 2nd.

Daddy & Eli

This past weekend my sister and I went out with some girlfriends and left Jeremiah home with Eli.  When we returned home I was so excited to find this...


It is just a glimpse into the love and interaction between Eli and his Daddy.  They are simply adorable together and I fall more in love with the both of them everyday.

A ceiling RE-Vamp

Back in the summer of 2010 my wonderful sister and I were hanging out at my house because she had a pinched nerve in her back and couldn't go to work.  She was lounging at my house watching movies and taking it easy when she looked up at my ceiling (see picture below) and said..."lets take those tiles down".

"Okay" I thought and I started pulling them down...one by one they came down and I was so excited to finally be getting rid of the hospital/office looking ceiling tiles.  Only after they were all down we were left with this. 

...and it was much worse.  After the big reveal, she said..."man that's gonna be hard to fix!...thanks sister, you were not so "wonderful" at that point :).

Those dots you see are actually some kind of black glue from who knows what led infested year, and they are rock solid.  The only way they were coming down was with a high power sander that I feared would spray lead dust everywhere.  Well, we lived with those dots for a good year while I looked and looked for a solution to the dot dilemma.  I just didn't know how we were going to get rid of them;  I thought about painting them but decided you would still be able to see the outline of them and that would just be tacky.  Finally I found these styrofoam ceiling tiles online and knew they were the answer.  Especially since they were only about $3.50 per tile as opposed to $15+ for metal ones.  A click of a button and 5 days later they were on my doorstep.

Now came problem #2, getting them up.  It wasn't that hard but it was labor intensive since our hands were up over our heads and we had a little over 100 to install, oh and by this time I was in my late 2nd/early 3rd trimester of pregnancy so I wasn't much help.  Luckily my wonderful husband plus brother-in-law and sister-in-law came to the rescue and put them up.  We applied them with a thin coat of tile mortar and the result is this...

 

It looks so so much more better than those horrible hospital grade tiles and so so so much better than those black tar dots.

Here is a side by side before/after view...

Catch up

So before I share all the wonderful details of our beautiful baby Boy, I thought I would catch up on what happened before our little man was born.

1.  My wonderful hubby Jeremiah turned 31.  We celebrated by spending time with family and having a nice dinner at my parents house with his family and favorite foods.  I dont have any pictures from the day but here is a picture of my 31 year old hubby jumping while I test out the features on our new Canon Rebel DSLR...

 

Please ignore the "power tower" in our bedroom that has become a clothes hanger for Jeremiah, he promises that it will be gone soon but of course is still sitting there.

2.  We/I got a new Canon Rebel DSLR T2i as my 30th/our baby present.  We are having so much fun playing with all the settings and learning how to use it together.  We have taken some really great shots with it so far and are really very happy with it.  Here is a picture of Maddy that we took with our macro lens.

3.  I turned the BIG 3-0!!!  Well technically my twin sister and I did but she was out of the country (in Germany and Spain) for the big event and I was 40 weeks and 2 days pregnant and very uncomfortable.  Again, we didn't do anything big, just dinner and cupcakes at my parents house.
Here is picture of how big and pregnant I was that day.

And that is all that happened from August 31st till the start of Eli's arrival.  Just 27ish hours after this picture was taken all the "fun" events started that led to Eli's big birthday.  Hope to share soon!

:)

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

Nothing special going on here, we are going to my parents house for a corned beef and cabbage dinner later but nothing terribly exciting.  However, I did want to take something festive for desert but didnt feel like making anything but I had made some tasty lemon cupcakes last night that I didn't end up frosting because it got to late.  Soooo, I decided they were the perfect treat if I could make them green in some way to "St. Patty's Day" them up.  Food coloring to the rescue and Ta-Da!  St. Patty's Day lemon cupcakes. 

(I apologize for the grainy Blackberry photos, Jeremiah has my camera at work)

In case you are in need of a scrumptious lemon cupcake recipe, who isn't, here it is...
(they are the most moist and lemon-y cake cupcakes you will ever taste and top it with my grandmothers delicious lemon frosting, DIVINE!)

Lemon Cupcakes
Cake:
-1 box lemon cake, add 1/2 cup sour cream and bake per box instructions
-when cupcakes come out of the oven, poke a few holes in the top with a wooden toothpick and drizzle some glaze on top so that it soaks in 
-let cupcakes cool and then ice with frosting

Glaze:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
4 heaping tablespoons powdered sugar
(mix together and then poke holes in cake/cupcakes and drizzle into holes)

Nana's Lemon Frosting Recipe:
1/3 cup soft (real) butter
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tbsp grated lemon rind
(mix all together)

** when adding glaze to cupcakes wash cupcake pans before next batch or the glaze will turn to candy in bottom of cup cake pan cups and stick to the next batch and then the cupcake will not come out of pan

Christmas Present Highlights

My tree is already in the trash and all the decorations are packed up and in the garage.  I couldn't take it one more day even though I love a decorated house.  I think I was just anxious to get back to the simple clean lines of the living room without the tree.  Our living room is so narrow that the tree never really fit properly, it just feels better and more open with it gone.

I do think that it is always sad to see the holidays end, all the magic left behind for the year, but I am looking forward to an exciting and adventurous 2011!  Before I get into New Years resolutions and new hopes and dreams for 2011, I thought I would share my Christmas present highlights, aka my favorite gifts...

1. I got a pair of black rubber rain boots from my sister, I feel so chic and cool wearing them.
2. I got Coach perfume from Jeremiah to mix up my perfume smells (I have been wearing the same vanilla perfume for over 10 years now)
3. My sister and I actually both got a pair of Dr. Scholls "fast flats" from our parents in our stockings.  They are so cute and even come with a little wristlet so when you are out on the town and your shoes are hurting your feet you can whip out your fast flats...genius!

What did you guys get for Christmas this year?  Are you sad that the holidays are over?

Well stay tuned here because we have some big plans for 2011, to start with I have to get my booty in gear and crank out some home improvements.

Funny Husband

From Sally's Blog-A Warm Conversation

This is a picture of our new bedding set and it has a funny story that goes along with it. We got it about a month ago when Jeremiah and I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond to use the last of our wedding gift cards. I was browsing through the clearance section, who doesn't love a good clearance bargain, and I spotted this bed spread. Jeremiah was off admiring the down pillows and I started to design how I would decorate the room around this bedspread and a set of lamps we got as a wedding gift. In my head I was only thinking of one set of regular pillows and one set of regular shams on top of the bed. I imagined that Jeremiah would think more than that would be ridiculous...oh how I was completely wrong. I took the bedspread to Jeremiah and said that I think we should buy a bedding set with our gift money and he quickly agreed, shocker #1. "Ok" I said, "I will try to find the matching sheets and bedspread in the clearance section." He walked back over with me and said, "can we get all these pillows that are in this picture too?"
Shocked moment #2, and thinking that he was joking I said "sure if you really want them." Then he receded to tell me that since he was a little boy he had always wanted a bed with a lot of pillows!!! Yes, that's shocker #3!!! "Is this my husband?" I stood there thinking, "is this the man that grew up in a twin bed with no mismatch sheets and any blanket that was warm enough for the season?" I didn't want to discourage him though so I kept my cool and simply said, "if you want to, sure". I was in utter shock but happily found all the pieces to complete the set, including Euro pillows for the Euro shams. BTW, I got the whole set for 72% off the original price!!! After that we finished using our gift cards, checked out and went home. Ready for some more shockers??? When we got home Miah asked if we could put our new bed set together and so we did, he was very proud when he saw all the pillows. Then, the next morning and just about every morning since then...HE HAS MADE THE BED AND LOVINGLY ARRANGED ALL THE PILLOWS WITH SUCH CARE!!! Now if he knew I was writing all of this for the public to read he would be embarrassed and maybe annoyed but I think it is so cute and adorable and I am pretty sure he doesn't read my blog anymore. I just wanted to share this story because he surprises me everyday and I love him more and more each day now that we are married and under the same roof. We are learning and loving so much more now. :)

P.S. later on I will share my ideas for the room and show you my lamps!!!