OOTW/2

1/ max studio grey knit t with batwings and v neck (thrifted), gap riding pants (old), thrifted men's oxfords (that i seem to always wear when there's a light rain.)

2/ abercrombie flannel, gap cords, pink tretorns (my mom wore tretorns all the time and i love that they remind me of her), bracelet was my mom's, my sister has the other identical one. 

3/ j. crew toile cropped sweatshirt, mustard muscle tank (thrifted), old navy skinny jeans, thrifted chambray sneakers. 

4/ yellow ann taylor wind breaker, forever 21 wrap sweater, leggings, hunter boots.

5/ bass oversized crew neck sweater, gap fit grey leggings, black clark boots (with white soles!)

6/ i guess i only wore 5 outfits this week? woops.

waaay more neutrals in these little experiments than i was expecting. if this continues, i can definitely/should definitely get rid of more of my clothes. i'm already loving the streamline without feeling like i have to follow someone else's rules about how many clothes i can have in my closet. 

WIL/ September

i love the idea of writing out some bullet points of what i learned each month, on the first of the next month, SO. what i learned/september edition.

* two kids is hard. and also i forgot about how hard infants are? like i feel like i had my brain wiped. 

*it gets better so much faster than you think it will. right now i'm still regularly overwhelmed, and bedtime is still CRAY. BUT we have systems for things, i feel like im getting to know this kid, and we're eating normally again. i get a shower 6 days a week. it gets better so fast!

*on that note, oh my goodness i love cooking. its so nice to be brought meals when you've just had a baby, and it's not like i was going to whip up a gourmet meal right after coming home from the hospital, but i realized this month how much fun i have putting together meals. i love planning meals ahead of time, i love cooking things i've never made before, i love knowing my girls and greg are getting nutrients. it's honestly one of only a few creative things in my life right now. energizing! not draining... but i don't think i necessarily knew that before this month.

* i need to give myself more grace. always true, but i was feeling it this month. feeling the pressure of when i should bring my babies out for long errands, when i should be comfortable with people holding them, when i should be cleaning my house. this month was another lesson in God's grace for doing things imperfectly. i can't be the exact same mom i was for eliza now that louisas here... and i cant be the exact same mom i was for eliza when she was a newborn for louisa. it's so hard to give up this imagined ideal for me, but grace helps me live in reality. the messiness of doing my best. 

*getting out of the house is great, but i love my house with new babies. we've done a lot of great little baby trips out of the house on the weekends, and it's been wonderful. helps eliza feel like she's getting her little adventures (and greg too), stretches me to be more flexible, and is just fun. but i'm also learning that with little, tiny baby newts like lucy, i need to just express when i need to be home. and man, i'm so grateful for our house. little things, like a thrown together gallery wall, garage sale rocking chairs, or a two minute walk to the park down the street remind me what a good thing we've got going here. 

Fall To do List 2015

*cocktail party with friends. i'm thinking hot toddy's and a good pot roast.


*apple picking with liza and lucy.


*fill up some disposable cameras- always my favorite pictures, but i tend to only do them in the summertime. i don't want the babies to grow up thinking we did nothing the other three seasons. ha!


*send greg to work with a love note. one of my favorite things to do, but it's been so long!


*host new people for dinner- we're overdue for some getting to know neighbor dinners. it can be intimidating to host people you really don't know well, but afterwards i always feel like it was so worth it. also, this way people could know us beyond just "the people who walk around their yard/the neighborhood in pajamas everymorning."


*take family pictures for our christmas card! so excited about this one.


*cairn homecoming! i've got eliza practicing her cheerleading and this morning i heard her cheering for the guy that delivers our groceries.


*catch a westfield high school soccer game with the girls!


*get mums and pumpkins for the porch


*some zoo and museum trips


*the annual LBI fall trip- two years ago it was Eliza's first trip out overnight, and this year it will be lucys!


*get to know the other parents of kids in eliza's little class.


*get to the library more often! before eliza's school day, maybe? I'd love to make it a part of our little routine one of the days she goes to school, since the library is so close. it would be good for my reading list and good for the girls too. can't wait to read Cranberry Halloween and Cranberry Thanksgiving with them this year! My mom used to read them to me and i loved them.

OOTW/1

An experiment to see what I actually wear. Hopefully I'll snap a picture every time I actually get dressed... which means there will probably be like 4 ish pictures a week. TBH i'm sitting here in yoga pants, so... not picture worthy. 

Clockwise from top left:

1- target khaki joggers, old navy pink sweater, vans

2- abercrombie dark chambray, abercrombie tee, gap black cords, birks, watch

3-abercrombie tee, gap skirt, lands end chambray flats

4-gap swing grey striped sweater, black cords again! vintage cuff, frye flats

5- thrift store (mens! lined with fleece!) flanel, abercrombie tee, lucky jeans, chambray flats

6- same dark chambray! same black cords! same birks! i guess i have favorites! yurman ring

so basically... here's hoping it gets more exciting. right now the getting dressed priorities are as follows:

*can i nurse in it?

*can i sit in it without feeling like i gained 1000 pounds during pregnancy?

*if eliza ran away in the parking lot COULD I CHASE HER?

it's friday and i like things

beauty stuff:

wearing this on my nails- the perfect navy alllllmost black. 

super into bright blush and a matching toned lip lately. suggestion- 

nyx flamingo blush with Mac Candy Yum Yum lipstick

ran out of this moisturizer this week and i'm mourning it. i basically bought it thinking OH NO WAY this will justify its 18$ price tag. and now i stare at the empty container of it on my vanity ever night. it's so good i don't want to throw out the empty package. dysfunction! but just fyi- it feels like a dream... and i don't really have dry skin at all. 

since lucy arrived i've been de-cluttering (or TRYING) like a crazy person and trying to simplify. it's like reverse nesting and it is FAR more real than nesting was for me. i went through my nail polishes and put the ones i'm most likely to wear in the fall towards the front and the ones i'm least likely to wear in the back. fall favorites- dark blues and greens, lots of nudes, and metallics, always. 

of course eliza only wants barbie pink polishes, so we've been reaching for those pretty often. (maybe should have thought about that when i did my organizing.)

feeling like my beauty look this fall will likely alternate between a cat eye and bold lip with a bare face, like this, and a more graphic, colorful cat eye with naked everything else, like this, this, or this. 

wearing stuff:

this blog is thought provoking. 

i am 100% not a minimalist by anyone's definitions, but this post about a personal uniform (and it's part II) was surprisingly informative. first post on wardrobe from the whole capsule perspective that felt freeing and not limiting. 

it's narrowing down my search for the perfect things to use my upcoming birthday money for! i'm super into these hi top sneaks for skinny jeans and dresses, these perfect clogs with tights, and this nursing friendly (AND REVERSIBLE AND GORGEOUS) dress.

cooking stuff:

OH MY WORD this autumn lasagna. Made for my in laws the other day and died. went to heaven, came back. made extra sauce and froze it because i want to continually surround myself with it. that good. that autumnal. so much delicious in your mouth.

these crock pot carnitas were also a giant success but word to the wise: a 5 LB ROAST IS HUGE. it is huge. it will feed your family for many days, even if your husband is a giant and eats like it and your toddler eats 6 full meals a day. we had many carnitas themed breafast, lunches, and dinners. LOL.

eliza and i made some pumpkin chocolate cookies with pecans for us and neighbors... google the recipe, any recipe. cant go wrong with those ingreds. ours were weird looking because eliza is two and did not use a spoon to get them on the baking sheet. still yummy.

reading stuff:

hoping i get back into the swing of reading soon. so many exciting things on my list to read.

still trying to finish Jurgen Moltmann's The Crucified God.

reading thru 1-3 John right now. is it just me or when you haven't read the bible in a while, when you come back to it it's almost like your fluency is rusty? yeah... my fluency is rusty. NAP BABIES NAP. 

have about 1000 social psychology books, novels, and things by brene brown in my amazon cart, just waiting to be purchased and read. hopefully soon!

ok i think we're going to whole foods to pick up our ninetyseventh pumpkin of the (just started) season and drink smoothies. WEEKENDZ. 

assorted inspiration for the craziest week.

You can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance at doing what you love. 

-Jim Carey

It was you who opened up springs and streams;

you dried up the ever-flowing rivers.

The day is yours, and yours also the night;

you established the sun and moon.

It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;

you made both summer and winter.

-Psalm 74

Great people do things before they're ready. They do things before they know they can do it... Doing what you're afraid of, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks like that- that is what life is. You might be really good. You might find out something about yourself that's really special and if you're not good, who cares? You tried something. Now you know something about yourself.

-Amy Poehler, my soul sister.

In between goals, there is a thing called life, that has to be lived in and enjoyed.

-sid ceaser

there's a lot to be overwhelmed by so I'm going to write a list now of all the awesome stuff going on here. 

*found the cheapest yummiest whole bean coffee. 

*drinking it now. (who cares if it takes me 4 hours to finish one cup? I WILL FINISH IT.)

*made my own saltwater spray for my hair. never washing my hair again. turning into a mermaid slowly. 

*have not yet misplaced anything major in the move. (don't ask me whether i've misplaced anything minor)

*it is still summer, and i love summer. give me all the warm weather. 

*we are all healthy and safe. this is not a given, this is a gift. 

*there is grace for me when I fail at all the stuff I need to do, because I'm not going to get it all done. 

manifesto

Summer 2014 manifesto: a declaring of intentions. 

I will walk outside, feel the sun on my face, and remember that this is my favorite time of year. 

I will sit outside on our dirty picnic blanket and point at dogs with Eliza,

go on long walks to see things and point at more things. 

If at all possible, we will not drive someplace if we can walk there. 

I will be laid back about lots of things, but not about sunscreen and hats.

I will pare down our stuff, remembering that life isn't about stuff. 

I will be organized about this move, because ohmygoodness unpacking when you haven't been organized is the worst.

I will enjoy our new deck and our new backyard and my people even when the inside of the new house is a mess. 

I will give a million kisses to that little chicken I have.

I will hold Greg's hand and argue with him about sunscreen.

I will show Eliza the ocean and the sand and the boardwalk and I will let her eat cake and icecream. 

I will use technology as a good servant and avoid it when it is becoming my master.

I will remember it is my job to pursue my calling, and only my calling, and not anyone else's. 

I will make corn on the cob. 

I will live with less stuff in my closet (and more organized in storage?). 

I will wear lipstick whenever I feel like it. It reminds me of my mom and I like it with a tan. 

I will try to remember to whom I belong, who I'm trying to please, and who's in charge.