I've Got A Speaking Gig Y'All!

In just couple of short weeks, I'll be speaking at the Penelope Lane Boutique and Blog Conference on September 29th.  I think I should be nervous and scared, but I think I'm too sleep deprived to feel those things, I'm kind of just numb at this point ;)   But in all honesty, I think that because the topic I'm speaking on is something I am passionate about, blogging, and something I've thought about for endless number of hours, I sort of already feel like I have my talk all laid out in my head.

So if you're local, I'd love for you to come out and support a great boutique, conference and lady (Sarah!).  There's about 10 spots left to attend the blog conference and there are 3 other amazing ladies speaking alongside me that day.  I personally will be speaking on finding your blog direction, and staying the course, even when you get frustrated and down.  It's taken me a looong time to finally feel successful at this blogging thing, yet I've stuck with it because I love it so much.  I'll be discussing how to find a direction you feel good about and feel passionate about, so that you continue to stick with it even when you feel like no one is listening.  It will be a feel good, keep your head up, tips and tricks, feel good type of talk and I'd love to see you there!

Sarah is giving away a pass to attend all the sessions of the conference on her blog through the weekend, so go check it out and enter to win.  If you don't win though, here's where you can grab your tickets!

Oh, and if you are interested in seeing how I've been dressing my postpartum body, and my philosophy on "losing the baby weight", please visit For The Love Of.

Getting Out Of the Lunch Rut

It's hard to believe, but we have already been back in school for 1 month, while the rest of you have probably just started back last week or possibly even today.  Sadly, only one month in and we have already hit a bit of a lunch rut, made even more sad by the fact that my girl is a foodie and will try almost everything.  Yet, we keep making her the same old boring turkey sandwich or nutella sandwich.   

I decided to challenge us a bit today as we head back to school after the holiday, and made her a lunch using leftovers from the weekend, and many ingredients so that she will have fun putting her meal together at the lunch table and won't die of boredom ;)

  Using our handy little Glad containers that help keep foods separate (very important to a 7 year old) and contained nicely, I decided to create her a "taco kit", resembling her favorite meal from Chipotle.  I love the smallest 4 oz. size of the Glad containers because I can fit up to 5 of the smallest containers into her lunchbox, along with her juice box.  Best part too is that they're BPA free, a big relief in fact.   

I started by shredding some chicken from a leftover roasted chicken my mother in law brought over the day we came home from the hospital.  I combined some diced tomatoes and leftover corn on the cob, cut off the cob, to make a pico de gallo type of mix, by adding some lime juice and salt and pepper.  I then included some shredded cheese and shredded lettuce, and warmed up a couple of corn tortillas and wrapped them in tin foil to help keep them warm.  And there you have it, taco kit on the go.

Taylor was beyond excited to get something a bit different than the usual in her lunch today, and I'm excited to use up some leftovers, and hopefully make a lunch that will actually get eaten today.  Syd on the other hand eats nothing but peanut butter and jelly, and I've learned to just not fight it anymore.  He gets some protein and eats a bit of veggies and/or fruit everyday, but other than that he's definitely a creature of habit.  At least Taylor is adventurous so I can experiment with her.

So do you guys have any other interesting food options for school lunches that I could try with Taylor, my foodie?  Or do you guys stick with the same lunch day in and day out like I do with Syd?

I have partnered with The Glad Products Company through DailyBuzz Moms to help promote their Food Storage products. I have been compensated for my time commitment to review this product. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments. Thank you GLAD! 

Please Let Me Introduce To You...

Introducing Hayden Arthur Howe.  Born on Monday 8/27/2012 at 9:20 am, weighing in at an even 8 pounds and measuring 20 inches in length, he is healthy and handsome, and we are in love. 

We survived our first night at home last night.  After a beautiful and blissfully happy 2 days spent cuddling and holding baby more than I ever had held one of my other newborns, I hit a bit of a dark cloud last night.  What I can best describe as a panic attack, I suddenly got a very sad and overwhelmed feeling of the enormity of it all.  I talked it through with Art and came out feeling good, then spent a restless night with baby Hayden.  He nursed fine until his 3 am feeding and hasn't nursed since.  When my milk comes in I get incredibly engorged and I think he's just a bit frustrated.  We will press on and I'm sure it will work out.  I've faced different nursing challenges with each baby and we've always worked it out, so I pray this is no different.

Today we are just spending the day getting to know each other, as I deal with my new found DD's, and trying to accomplish my first bowel movement, always a scary thing right?  Life is beautiful and I see that, and truly know that, just praying no more dark clouds hit me tonight.  The doula is set to deliver my placenta capsules tomorrow afternoon, and while I have no real reason to believe this, I feel deep down that they will work on some level, even if it's just purely psychological.  I'm sorry to mix such a beautiful post with some sadness, but I feel on this matter it is beyond important to be honest.  Tuesday night I cried with such emotion of how happy I felt, how truly in love with this little boy I was.  And then to have such a rush of sadness the next night is nothing short of maddening and frustrating.  It's not right, and it certainly doesn't make much sense, but it's the truth and I want those of you that have been through the same thing to know you're not alone.

I'll be back over the next week or so to update you, and share the birth story with you.  I have to say, I kicked this labor's ass.  It was hard and painful and long, but I am certain of one thing, I am proud of how it all transpired and will forever have those memories in my heart.

Thanks for everything you guys.  For the well wishes, prayers and support.  They have meant the world to me, more than you could ever know.

Ain't Nature A Trip?

Wednesday morning while the kids were at school I wrote.  I wrote the entire morning and it felt good to get all my posts out of the way for Disney so that I could relax the rest of the month.  The writing came easy to me and it flowed, which is always a nice thing.  I got 5 posts written, one of them being about how I was putting my feet down (or up rather), and Saying No To Nesting and instead resting.  I felt that way on Wednesday and turned a blind eye to my list of "nesting projects" I had put together weeks prior.

That night, I felt funny all night.  I just felt weird.  I woke up Thursday morning and realized I had lost my mucus plug.  A sign for me, that labor was soon upon me within a matter of days.  Anyone else know when they lost their mucus plug by the way?  I'm the only one in my circle of friends that has been able to tell with both pregnancies when this happened.  Mucus plug, sounds so gross too right?

Anyhow, after we got the kids off to school I had a freak out moment of epic proportions and told Art we were in no way ready for this baby.  The house was a mess, the pack n play or crib weren't set up, there were no groceries in the house and my freaking bag wasn't even packed!  I was about as hysterical as I get.  I decided the only reasonable thing to do was call my mom.  She talked me down from the ledge and agreed to come over for a couple of hours in the morning before she went to my sister's house to celebrate her birthday with her.

And so against my previous convictions and statements, I nested the hell out of this house.  I cleaned out all of my makeup supplies and toiletries, and tossed what I didn't need or want, including all those samples you collect over the years.  I washed my makeup brushes too.  I cleaned out my night stand and threw tons of old magazines away, I cleaned out my desk drawer and the freezer, fridge and pantry (with my mom's help), and she helped me tackle the grocery list.  I cleaned out my purse and wallet, throwing away or filing old receipts and such.  I went through the mail and all the kid's school paperwork and filed accordingly.

I even vacuumed out the tracks for the sliding doors and washed them down with soapy water.  They were disgusting.  Because you know, clean sliding door tracks are an essential part of bringing a newborn baby home.

So against any desire I had on my own, nature truly took over and made me clean like a freak yesterday.  I'm exhausted today, but did manage to gas up the car just in case, and get it washed.  Because clean baby must come home in a clean car, right?  Nature sure is a trip, ain't it?

Wish me luck guys!  I hope this baby comes this weekend, because me and this house are ready to meet our newest member.  I'll be sure to fill you guys in on any action that may occur first via Instagram (I'm @fourflights).

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Craft Cabinet - Summer 2012

Sometimes the best things are those that are done at the last minute, thrown together spontaneously. That certainly proved to be the case with the first installment of The Craft Cabinet. Jules and I are typical textbook over-thinkers, but when you have less than 4 weeks to throw together an event, lest one of the co-hosts goes into labor, you don't have time to over-think, you just do, and that's exactly what we did. To say it came together exactly as I had imagined it would be a bit of an understatement, it came out exactly as I had imagined it, maybe even better. Witnessing women laughing, getting to know each other, creating, eating and drinking is one of the most enjoyable things I can imagine.

The venue was Salvage Life, a vintage boutique/studio own by Beth Giles. When I reached out to Beth about hosting the event there, she responded within a matter of minutes, saying yes, but could we just time it around the birth of her daughter, which set to occur at any day. "Sure, no problem, but could we just schedule it right before the birth of my child too?" It sounds a bit crazy when I replay the conversation back in my head, but when you love what you do (Beth), and you're passionate about making something happen (me), you don't let something like child birth get in your way ha! Beth, thank you from the bottom of our hearts, because we seriously couldn't have done this without you.

Beth's shop is chock full of pretty, and is bright and charming, so we knew it didn't take much in terms of decor to really set the space off. We were also excited knowing that the ladies coming to the event would appreciate such a venue, and it made us happy to see some ladies stay after the event to make purchases. Because of our limited budget, we went with simple, vintage inspired decor that tied in with our color scheme. The morning of the event I called up Jules and said "I'm getting balloons, lots of balloons." Call me old-fashioned, but nothing spells party to me like balloons.

All the other details just sort of came together, from the food to even the color coordinated bottles of Izze and sparking water, which was an inadvertent mistake, but a happy one nonetheless. The catering manager at the local Corner Bakery in Long Beach partnered with me on our order, literally the day before the event. They were amazingly nice and accommodating.

Jacqui of Baby Boy Bakery provided the mini cupcakes, and hand delivered them to my door the morning of the event. For that I can't thank her enough! She did not disappoint, as usual, and all 60 cupcakes were gone by the end of the night.

Since the purpose of the night was to craft, we made sure to carve out plenty of time to do that, and although some projects weren't finished, no one seemed to mind.

The people and companies that pulled through to contribute to the swag bags were incredible, and deserve a post all their own which will come later this week, but how cute did they end up? I stuffed and stamped (with our own stamp!) and Jules decorated. We divided and conquered really well together.

Thanks Jules for being a terrific partner, thank you Tristan for designing a gorgeous logo and invitation, thank you to my sister Tina and my husband Art for helping to set up and clean up, thank you Danni and Gena for arriving early and helping to decorate, and thank you to my good friend Mary of Yung Bean Photography, who agreed to photograph the event with just a few days notice. She did a wonderful job didn't she? And thanks to all the truly wonderful ladies who took a chance on us and came out to the event! If you'd like to visit their blogs, here you go! Jules and I are already busy planning the next Craft Cabinet, for sometime in November, just in time for the holidays. We hope you can join us again!

Danni | Oh, Hello Friend Andrea | He Calls Me Wifey Laura | Hollywood Housewife Rachel | Crimson to Wool JJ | The Blah Blah Blahger Brenda | Secret Agent Josephine Lisa | Trapped in North Jersey Kelly | The Reading Nest Vanessa | Little Grey Pixel Sarah | Little Penelope Lane (and Penelope Lane Boutiques) April | The Gingerbread Blog MJ | Teaching in Heels Melissa | Melissa Dell Monick | Lilly Bug Lane Gena | Bake All The Things Crystal | The Lil’ Cupcake Kara Murano

SOS Plead!

(Big Belly saying a prayer at church that if this is the week, Lord let everything go safely and smoothly)

Guys, the countdown is ON!  10 days to go till the official D Day of 8/30, and only 4 to go before my guess delivery date of 8/24.  So since this may be my last week of freedom, if you will, I plan to do a whole lotta nothing while the kids are at school.  Screw the organization projects I had in mind, I'm sitting on the couch.

So I need help.  I've read three books in the last month, but for the past week don't have a single book to read.  I need suggestions for an easy, quick, mindless girly read (and please don't say 50 Shades of Gray because I'm not gonna do it).  I could also use a suggestion or two for a fun chick flick to watch.

The Craft Cabinet was a huge success and we'll be sharing pictures of the event tomorrow, as well as have a linky party in place so you can link up your blog posts if you attended the event.  But until then I thought I'd put out my SOS plead and see if you all could help a gal out :)

Much love and I hope your weekend was great!

Oh Baby - What Will It Bee?

I didn't mean to leave you all this week.  It's been a doozy, getting ready for Craft Cabinet and all.  I can't believe it's finally here.  Holy heck I'm amazed at what Jules and I have managed to pull off in a manner of days (less than four weeks to be exact).  This is by no means bragging, just a little realization of a dream and some hard work.  In the past 3 weeks we've secured a vendor, catering, rentals, amazing swag from some BIG and independent vendors who are all amazingly generous, and most importantly, sold out an event with awesome, amazing ladies.  Ladies who are inspired to create and inspire others to create.  I can't wait to see, and in some cases, meet those of you coming. 

I want to update you on Syd's progress at school since this is his first full week in Kinder, but I thought I'd wait to get the whole week completely under our belt, lest I jinx anything. 

I do want to share with you all the pictures from my "What Will It Bee?" baby shower though!  I posted them over at Disney Baby, but here's a little peek at a few of them.  I would be very appreciative and honored if you'd click through and see the rest of them :)

Wish me luck guys.  I'm tired but excited.  I can't wait to see it all come together tonight!