neathering our fest + thumbprint designs

bump update: 25 weeks

2013-04-01T06:30:00.000-05:00

i'm convinced that the best accessory for a baby bump is an allora handmade necklace. it just goes so well with everything and seriously i want to wear it all the time. i'm so sad that she is going out of business. :(

necklace - allora handmade // top - gap (not maternity) // jeans - target maternity // bracelets - threads, horsefeather gifts and a coworker (@guitarpkr76)

dear alissa - i have worn this outfit twice since blissdom. i feel like a stylish rock star in it. thank you for reinforcing that! :)

i'm starting to feel streeeeetched out like stretch armstrong and habitually slather on lotions, creams, and potions, and have yet to see a stretch mark so i am keeping my fingers, toes, and other appendages crossed on that front.

(monica, this photo is for you)

these were taken the thursday after blissdom and i am not even going to lie. i photoshopped out the enormous bags under my eyes because they were so so bad. no shame. blissdom was lots of fun and i have a lot to say about it but i've been busy catching up with work so i'm holding off on posting my recap post until next week. i could say that i'm still processing but the real reason is that i'm lazy and don't feel like doing it yet. ;)

i am having a shower this weekend (yay sooo fun!) and cannot wait to spend some time with my friends. honestly i'd rather just have that than all the baby things but i suppose i do need some stuff. i've been so super lucky to have many friends and family hook me up with their supply of cloth diapers and/or cloth diaper supplies. i'm actually excited about doing it.

can someone just pinch me? i am excited about cloth diapers. #whoami?

this picture is fuzzy. how did i not notice this before?

anywho - i'm excited to be putting the final touches on my first ever ebook. we are launching it sooooooo soon and i can't wait to share it with you here. because it is awesome. want a sneak peek? visit better mom shots to learn a little about it. i'm so proud of it!

so this picture. i went to prom as a freshman (woot! got asked one week before by mr. most likely to go to seminary) and my mom was so stoked that her baby was going to senior prom. (what was she thinking exactly?) so i'm all dolled up , hair in this ridiculous up do and wearing way too much makeup for a 14 year old and she is taking three million pictures of me. i finally got fed up with "please just one more" and i make this lovely face for her and she snapped a picture. and literally it is one of my favorite pictures of all time. it is framed in the living room and it is such a great representation of me. so any time i am taking pictures this is a must have shot. i have it from my high school graduation, college graduation, engagement pictures, wedding pictures, and most recently from the headshots i had done at blissdom by my sweet friend/client monica. i can't wait to share those with you too :)

what has everyone been up to? i'm ready for june to roll around - we literally have something planned just about every weekend between now and then. it's going to be a busy a couple of months! :)

10 reasons to wait until marriage to have a baby...

2013-03-15T06:30:00.000-05:00

that have nothing to do with religious, moral, or ethical obligations.

so to say that pregnancy is something that affects only the woman in the relationship is like saying that there is a no peeing section in a pool. my husband is experiencing this pregnancy as much as i am, but in a completely different way. and honestly, if the man wasn't spiritually and legally linked to me i'm pretty sure he would have taken off already.

because pregnant people are cra-zay.

so here is why i think, aside from guilt-ridden obligations like your preacher or your grandmother's point-of-view (not that they aren't important) that you should wait until you have a loving, committed, marriage relationship before getting knocked up. ;)

1. pregnancy changes your body. and the first time you see a hair growing out of your nipple and express your serious concerns about this to your boyfriend, my guess is you will see a boyfriend-shaped-hole in your wall. and who could blame him? i don't think men choose women based on how long of a hair they can grow out of their breast.

2. you need to have someone to discuss the rate of occurrence of your bowel movements because they seriously become part of your daily concerns. you also need someone to bring your your phone without complaining when you sit down for #1 and the urge for #2 strikes because you learn to never let a moment like that pass you up.

3. at a certain point you can no longer do things like bend over, carry the laundry basket, or pour milk. i really though all that stuff about not lifting anything was ridiculous but it kind of becomes impossible and wears you out faster than you can ever imagine. so having a husband who will carry the laundry basket to the bedroom for you turns out to be heavenly.

4. a husband is contractually obligated to tell you that no matter how jiggly and cellulite-covered your behind is, he still loves you because you are a precious vessel now, carrying his unborn child and progeny.

5. having someone to safely transport your growing body in a vehicle becomes paramount to any other task. i cannot tell you how many times i thanked my husband over the holidays (when we put a little over 2,300 miles on our car) for safely driving me and my new little baby bump around without hitting other cars or complaining about being tired.

6. you also need someone who can stand up to the constant heavy sighs, obvious car door handle grabs, and complaining when he does take that corner a little to fast, tailgates someone unnecessarily, or (heaven forbid) goes over the speed limit in a school zone.

7. someone has to paint the nursery right? and put the crib together, and get excited over every baby onesie you look at in target, and discuss the pros and cons of cloth diapering.

8. he reminds you that all the dumb things you say during pregnancy are funny and should be recorded so you can remember to blog about it later!

9. when your husband sees your stomach move for the first time - nothing matches that. ever.

10. he tells you every day how proud he is of you for not freaking out about being pregnant and that you are going to make a great mommy.

husbands are the best - i'm not saying anything about boyfriends being bad. i happen to know a couple of girls who have babies with their boyfriends and they are great dads and supportive partners. but personally speaking, if i weren't married to me and i was having to deal with this whole new level of crazy, i'd be a little skeptical. that's all i'm sayin. :)

also - linking up with from my grey desk for H54F even though it's technically 10 things. ;) i don't think she will mind!

preparing for blissdom: last minute link party!

2013-03-13T09:33:00.000-05:00

PSSST: google reader is going away! WHY? Make sure you follow my blog with Bloglovin

blissdom is a week away folks. ONE WEEK AWAY! AHHHHH. i've been in 100% prep mode for the last 48 hours meaning i've done....

NOTHING.

okay well except for take this ridiculous picture. i did do that.

that isn't entirely true i suppose. we have a roomie chat tonight (can't wait to meet these gals: leanne {actually i know her but whatever, can't wait to see her!}, jamie, and joyce). i am getting a hair cut and a pedicure. and this concludes my list of getting ready for blissdom.

super prepared right?

i have read a few articles on how to prepare for blissdom but as far as doing any of the stuff these suggest i'm not doing so well. here is what i've read so far:

Blue Cricket Design: Heading to a Blog Conference
The Pixel Boutique: 10 Quick & Easy Ways to Prepare for Blissdom
Live Laugh Rowe: Blissdom Bound: Preparing for a Blog Conference
The Small Things Blog: Benefits of a Blog Conference
Musings of a Housewife: Fashion Friday: What to Wear to Blissdom
Stilettos & Diapers: Blissdom Prep: What to Wear
Simple Mom: What to Wear to Blissdom

so instead of packing or doing anything productive, i thought i'd try and read up some more on getting ready for blissdom, tips for getting the most out of it, and what to wear. do you have a post you'd like to share with me? i'd love to read it and share it with the blissdom community - especially all the newbies! or hey, just introduce yourself so when i see your face in the sea of people i will recognize a few folks!

link up your posts about anything blissdom related below!

women i admire: a few of my clients & a thank you!

2013-03-04T06:30:00.000-06:00

one of the things i have learned in this adventurous ride to self employment is how absolutely amazing some of the women i work for are.

like - jaw-droppingly creative, ambitious as all get out, sleep-deprived, hard working, and never failing to amaze me. i wanted to share a little about who some of them are and what i've learned from them and make sure that you get to know them a bit too.

linda at craftaholics anonymous (or, as she is known in our house, linda crafaholics) was literally the first woman to put her faith in me and give me a shot. we met at haven home conference last year (when i randomly plopped down at her table and said "mind if i sit here and scarf my lunch?") and that is literally how all of this started. a few emails were exchanged and she took the plunge and was the first one to actually hire me. i want to tell her every day how much i appreciate her and say thank you every day but i think that might creep her out. :)

linda says she isn't a pro at things like SEO and building traffic - but she is modest. she has taught me everything i know about it and shown me how it can help your site grow. i learned how to pick keywords and use alt tags in images to boost pinterest traffic. she also trusted me to draft posts in wordpress on her behalf when i had no clue what i was doing. i'm certainly not a wordpress professional by any means but because of her faith in me it is another skill i can add to my resume.

i contacted heather at just lovely things (known here as just lovely heather) at a point when love club was really starting to grow and i honestly think she was desperate. i know it was a huge stretch for her to give up some of the control and let me take over some things (totally outing you) but after a few random conversations about bacon, gas station corn dogs, and more recently, the sinful nature of Easter candy, i think she is pretty sure she found the right girl. :) (believe it or not we do talk about things other than food...)

i love her ability to work through rough spells. i know how hard it was for me to continue to blog when things got rough in life (like when we moved, when my mom passed away, and when my business started taking off) but she maintains this ability to continue creating even when life seems a little bit upside down. she is always dreaming of the next big thing - and you can say that about anyone. but heather not only dreams them... she does them. she can carry a dream through to execution and then know when to give it wings and let it fly on its own like nobody's business.

monica at flying photo school was my first client that happened across my website, liked what she saw, and blindly said "please please help me!" and i so so happily obliged. it has been a fun ride ever since. she is not only an amazing photographer but also has a very successful online photography school where she helps beginner photogs get there cameras off of auto and into manual and take gorgeous pictures as well.

i have never met someone so absolutely emotionally and fully invested in their business and in themselves. there is so much of her heart and soul in these courses that i truly find myself fighting to defend her personally when a student isn't happy (and let's face it - you cannot please all the people all the time!). working with and for her has helped my spiritual side grow because i have really really learned how to handle people with grace and love more than i ever thought i could. i can have a bit of a short fuse (especially with this pregnancy!) and my boundaries of grace have expanded because of her faith in me. she has also been so faithful to me and asked me to partner with her on a new project and having someone believe in you like that is such a boost to believing in yourself and what you do - i cannot express it enough!

lastly, jessica at jessica n designs, this girl. (known here as the spoon lady) i don't think i know anyone who works harder than she does. raising three littles and running her own extremely successful handmade business where she does 90% of the work all by herself - that totally astounds me. i love the quirky sense of humor you get from her spoons and she is always working to expand her line but keep it real to her and what she loves to do.

she never seems to slow down (even in that slump after Christmas i'm pretty sure she was buried under vintage spoons) but somehow she has this wonderful family that she cares for and friends she helps out in a pinch (including me!). i'm so lucky that she took the plunge and reached out to me. she has taught me that hard work and dedication to your craft, whatever it might be, is doable and will pay off!

this is only a small handful of the women that i work with and admire - there are more to come. but these four have pretty much been with me from the beginning and i've told them all that they are stuck with me so get used to it! this is one small way to say thank you to them for believing in me and helping me believe in myself! you should go check out their websites and shops and support them as much as they've supported me over the last few months!

five things on a friday

2013-03-01T06:30:00.000-06:00

1. we have a huge enormous rummage sale this weekend at the church. we do this every year and it is one of our main fundraisers for the youth group at the church. we usually net around $1800-$2000 easily and all that money goes towards their summer mission trips to help offset the costs. i will be spending all day tomorrow walking around, resetting tables, selling junk to people who love junk, and trying really hard not to buy anything for myself.

welllll except for the brand new tummy time mat i snatched up as it was coming in the door. ;)

2. this is brett (with the awesome high & tight) and ben. last week we got to welcome him home from afghanistan. he was returning from his final 14-month deployment and we are so so glad to have him home. brett and his wife caroline, along with their two sons jake and ben, are seriously some of the most awesome people you can ever dream of meeting. it was fun to stand at the airport - i got some good shots of them that i'm going to share soon.

3. if you follow me on instagram you probably saw this already but i had to share again because it is that cool - we found a member's only jacket at the base exchange at barksdale afb in bossier city last weekend. it was seriously too cool not to buy. when the tag says "when you put it on, something happens.", you are kind of obligated, right?

and then when it rings up for $10 you do a really silly happy dance at the register. ;)

4. two really awesome career related things happened this week. first of all, i will be speaking at SNAP! i cannot even begin to tell you what this means to me in one tiny sentence but i will share more about it as i find out but holy crap. i will also get to meet a ton of my clients in the flesh at the conference. this has got me jumping up and down for joy man! :) i will be among the ranks of lisa, ceo of annie sloan chalk paint, lisa leonard, and brittany from pretty handy girl. i am stoked. plus i'm rooming with one of my best bloggy bffs and we are going to have oh so much fun. :)

why yes - that is my face under michael from inspired by charm. i might have squealed a bit.

5. the other thing is that i've been seriously struggling with when to call it quits with my part time job. for a while now i have worked two-days-a-week at my office job and it's been not so fun. especially when i know my time is much better spent building my career as a soon-to-be-wahm (WAHM2B?) well lucky for me, when i struggle with making a decision, God usually jumps in and pulls the trigger for me. the owner came in and had a sit down with me and we discussed how this arrangement (me working part time, the other admin working part time, and how that was not working for the business at all) and he was trying to figure out what to do. i made it easy for him and told him to hire someone to replace me and i will put my notice in. i'm so thankful for how supportive he has been and all the ways he has been a big help to me by being supportive but at the same time, i am glad to be moving on and i feel a great sense of closure with how it happened.

so, basically, starting next tuesday, i will officially be totally, 100% self-employed. i have busted my ass to get to this place and i'm going to relish in every second of it. thanks to all of you guys who have pushed and helped and supported me along the way too. :)

how is your friday?

bump update: week 20

2013-02-25T06:30:00.000-06:00

last thursday we hit the halfway mark of our pregnancy and celebrated by taking some bump pictures!

earrings - the vintage pearl // necklace - lisa leonard // shirt - target // jeans - motherhood

pregnancy is finally getting fun and obvious so people know i'm pregnant by looking at me and seeing this bump which feels much bigger than it looks! i have made the transition to full time maternity pants but i'm still able to wear non-maternity shirts as long as they are long enough to cover the panel.

i got these from motherhood and i love them. they are sturdy fabric and have a full panel which i love. i tried some partial panel pants and i just felt like i spent all day pulling them up. i have also invested in a nice gray dress and a few clearance liz lange shirts from target. i wish everyday clothes were as comfy and soft as maternity clothes.

we finished our registries last week (one at target, one at amazon) and for the first time i felt an inkling of "i can so do this - look at all this stuff they make to help me out! i can definitely have a baby in the house" and it was nice to have a bit of confidence about it. mostly i've just felt scared and hopeless because i know absolutely n-o-t-hing about babies, bottles, breastfeeding, or wiping bums. but i've been talking to friends and reading as much as i can about everything i can so i'm getting there.

i'm also learning to enjoy things day by day. from the very beginning i wanted to read ahead in my daily pregnancy update and see what would be happening next week but it totally freaked me out. (my baby loses its tail? it has a tail? and then it pees in me? no. i can't deal with that. gag) but i discovered if i took it one day at a time it helped me appreciate that i was growing a human inside of me and that every tiny development is such a neat thing and i am so appreciative of the blessing it is to get to experience it. some of my very best friends want this experience so much and haven't been able to make it happen yet and because of them i want to take every bit of it in and not take advantage of a single second.

the baby still doesn't like eggs much, which makes me sad because i would shoot someone for an omelet loaded with ham, cheese, mushrooms, and jalapenos, but has found an affinity for apple juice of late. i'm drinking about a jug of apple juice every couple of days. its just so good and more satisfying than plain water. chris has also been such a trooper because i'm finally to the point where physical exertion really just wears me out and i have to make myself not overdo it. so he has been such an angel to carry the laundry baskets for me, slide ottomans around the living room, and pull me up out of the bathtub at night. (still have to have my nice bath to relax before bed!)

so here we are, twenty weeks in and halfway there, and i feel like i've come so far but as a family we still have a long way to go too! oh. and to be completely honest, it is worth telling you that i edited and uploaded all these pictures with "17 weeks" and had the post nearly ready to go before i realized this are not, in fact, pictures of a 17 week old bump. oops. #pregnancypsychosis

poke's nursery inspiration board

2013-02-20T06:28:00.000-06:00

not finding out the gender of our baby has made it a challenge (read: for me a lot more fun) to come up with a cute nursery! i always knew i wanted bright colors and nothing themed. i've never been into animals or letters or anything like that. i have always wanted something simple that would grow a little bit into the next stage in life without having to completely make the room over.

that being said, here is a 90% certain preview of poke's nursery which we sincerely hope to complete before the baby is born. ;)

source list:

color inspiration (left to right):

broadway lights (298 by benjamin moore)
exotic sea (5004-10B by valspar)
grass cloth (400D-5 by behr)
mandarin orange (A18-6 from olympic)
fresh water (23A3 from true value)

valance/blanket: sumersault doodles baby bedding set at kohls
davinci jenny lind white crib
green and white striped rug
baxton studio letterio white cradle chair & blue and white chevron pillow
pouf ottoman
yellow dresser

breakfast + the #vdaymugswap

2013-02-14T06:30:00.000-06:00

one thing the baby absolutely loves is cinnamon toast. this works out well for me because i also happen to love cinnamon toast. #winwin

the only thing that made this specific plate of cinnamon toast more yummy was this beautiful mug that i got from laura at our reflection. laura and i got teamed up for the #vdaymugswap hosted by rags to stitches and sew caroline. it was so much fun to shop for a cute coffee mug for laura and when i opened my box up i was so excited to see what she had packed in there!

my package was full of yummy candy (chocolates kisses, reeses peanut butter cups, and a couple of cute suckers) plus some adorable socks. and of course this mug that laura personalized for me! she must have known that i loved tea because she drew a sweet tea bag on the outside...

and a special message on the other side. :)

and if that was not enough cuteness to soak in... how awesome is the little heart on the handle? i die of the cute. for reals.

thank you so so much laura for my new favorite coffee + tea mug. i absolutely love it! :)

make sure to hop over to laura's blog today and see what i got her! (plus her pictures will be way better than mine - have you seen her amazing photography skillz?)

bump update: 17 weeks

2013-02-07T06:28:00.000-06:00

these past couple of weeks have been pretty productive around the mclain household. we finished painting the living room, moved the gun cabinet out of the man cave, and oh yeah - Poke made quite an appearance!

top - target clearance ($7 online/$3 in the store) // skinnies - maurice's jeggings // necklace - allora handmade

i've been told that i'd just wake up one day with a bump and people were not lying. i literally went to bed with one body and woke up in someone else's!

like i said last friday i finally gave over to maternity pants. i have a really nice pair of black work pants and some mudd jeans (thank you nina!) but i really want some maternity skinnies and i know i will need some shorts eventually. i need some recommendations and help! how do you buy maternity pants? are they the same size as what you would normally buy? where are some good places to get them? i am clearly clueless in this department.

i want to be cute prego girl, not wearing things from omar the tent maker's shop. i don't mind showing off my bump and these bigger curves (i would say new but i've always been pretty curvy) so i don't want to wear big baggy clothes. i'm going to try to spend as little as possible too - this should be a challenge all in itself right? so any stores/shops/online sources you have are more than welcome. i'd love to start shopping! :)

another big change in our house this week: we started training the dogs to sleep in the kitchen instead of the bed with us. yes - we are those people. we share the bed with our dogs (rebel has slept in the bed with me since the day i got him) and to be honest i kind of miss having them in the bed with me! but so far they have done great. rebel will really sleep anywhere - he has always a very adaptive dog. but sadie, the princess, on the other hand... we were a bit worried she would be upset with us. we found the trick is to cover her crate with a blanket and boom. honk-shooo, honk-shooo, she is out. we just need to get her to sleep a little later (5:30 am has been her wake up call) and we will be good to go.

rock the casbah. i mean what else can you say here? :) why not have a little fun and laugh?

101 ways to show love {fun for valentine's day!}

2013-02-04T06:28:00.000-06:00

we hosted a human sexuality and morality seminar over the weekend for the senior high youth in our youth group. that in itself deserves its own post - having a room full of teenagers talking about God's design for sex is not only encouraging it is highly entertaining - but one of the handouts the teacher provided was really, really cool.

regardless of your relationship status, finding ways to show someone you love them can be a little tricky, especially when you feel like you've already done everything in the book. so here are 101 ways to show someone you love them (without doin the deed - lol... that i what the handout says). try some of these out with your spouse, best friend, sister - anyone you want to share love with!

1. tell the other person you love them
2. give or get a hug
3. make the other person feel important and respected
4. hold hands
5. go for a long bike ride
6. give a special gift
7. be there when a friend is needed
8. kiss
9. have fun together
10. tell the other person that you care
11. spend time together
12. go to a movie
13. walk arm in arm in the woods
14. make a special tape of love songs (mix tape! snort!)
15. talk openly about your feelings
16. share dreams with each other
17. snuggle up together
18. sit together in the park
19. take a walk together
20. go out to eat
21. have a picnic
22. play a game of frisbee
23. give compliments
24. relax in a whirlpool
25. go swimming
26. just be close
27. go grocery shopping
28. cook a meal together
29. touch each other in a loving way
30. do homework together
31. plan and go on a road trip
32. throw a party together
33. bake cookies
34. go to the library
35. browse in a museum together
36. just be there
37. find out what is special for the other person and do it
38. exercise together
39. gaze at each other
40. wash each others cars
41. go fishing
42. talk to each other
43. listen to hurts
44. do a work project together
45. choose a special, favorite song
46. listen to joys
47. hold one another close
48. use eye contact to share a private thought
49. write each other letters
50. talk on the telephone
51. trust one another
52. give or receive a promise ring
53. meet each others family
54. go hiking together
55. make sacrifices for each other
56. send candy
57. respect each other
58. go for a moonlight walk
59. hide a love note where the other person will find it
60. give each other sexy looks
61. write a poem
62. send flowers
63. eat dinner by candlelight
64. go to a concert
65. watch the sunrise together
66. take a drive together
67. give each other pet names
68. go sightseeing
69. rent a video
70. do things for each other without being asked
71. propose marriage
72. whisper something nice into the others ear
73. be best friends
74. take a carriage ride through the park
75. go out dancing
76. play music together
77. flirt with each other
78. laugh at something funny together
79. be faithful
80. impress each other
81. make a list of things you like about each other
82. read a book and discuss it
83. meet each others friends
84. go horseback riding
85. cook each others favorite foods
86. find out what makes the other happy
87. make each other gifts
88. be caring
89. watch the sunset
90. give diamonds
91. dedicate a song on the radio
92. send a funny card
93. share lifetime goals with each other
94. play footsie
95. share private jokes
96. think about each other
97. find out what makes the other sad
98. go skating
99. trade class rings
100. share an ice cream cone
101. have your picture taken together

i know that some of these are cheesy and maybe even a little weird but when was the last time you took a few minutes to do one of these little things to show someone you loved them? a lot of the parents (who attend a compulsory parent meeting before the seminar) loved this handout and said they were stealing it from their kiddo when they brought it home. i thought it would be fun to share for valentine's day!

maternity pants

2013-02-01T06:28:00.000-06:00

maternity pants. tricky things, these are. i've been dreading actually having to wear them. hanging on to my unbuttoned skinny jeans for a couple of weeks now. constantly pulling my belly band over the waist to keep them pulled up and on my body so i didn't get saggy butt syndrome.

i don't know why exactly i was so against trying out some maternity pants. i guess it makes it real and as long as i can rock some regular jeans (button issue notwithstanding) then i still look "skinny" and don't look pregnant yet? and therefore i can pretend this isn't happening?

but tuesday, my belly band was in the washing machine and my skinny jeans were too stretched out to go without them. and i really couldn't wear pajama pants to work (seriously why not?) so i took a deep breath and grabbed the maternity pants off the hanger. they are just simple black work pants with the fabric waist thingy that pulls over my belly. why does this scare me so??

still quite skeptical of the whole situation i pulled them on and instantly: wow. these are the most comfortable pants in the world. why do i not wear maternity pants all the time? soft and stretchy and not constricting and they stay up without constant pulling and tugging and adjusting on my part. i sound like an old man comparing the benefits of sansabelt slacks at jc penneys.

which is why i didn't want to start wearing maternity pants.

have you ever noticed that we so easily slip into something comfortable and then it is really hard to get out of it? clearly i have a love for soft stretchy pants because they are comfortable and easy. i also really like my life routine. i do the same thing just about every day and i really like it that way. it is familiar and comfortable and doesn't stretch me or terrify me.

i've been thinking today how making the change from my familiar and comfortable jeans to these new and scary maternity pants is just the first of many ways my life is about to seriously seriously change. i let maternity pants terrify me into being uncomfortable and quite frankly, a little bitchy, because they were different and uncharted territory for me. but then once i took a deep breath and just put them on i found they weren't quite as horrible as i'd imagined. in fact, i'm quite in love with them on the whole.

the change from my familiar routine into this scary new one that is on its way is enough to make me throw in the towel and just call it quits! but the good news is you can't just voluntarily quit a pregnancy. (or rather - you can but i won't) so i'm pretty much stuck with these maternity pants and this new, unknown schedule, whether i like it or not. but i have a feeling that i will be able to slip right into this new lifestyle (with some bumps here and there no doubt) and find it to be way more comfortable than i thought it would be. :)

tuesday things

2013-01-29T06:28:00.000-06:00

1. so i really thought i had a pretty good handle on these pregnancy emotions. i knew i had a mean streak (calypso) but i'm sitting here right now and here is a short list of things i feel:

overwhelmed
hungry
sad
lonely
pissed off
hungry
stressed out
scared
confused
hungry

i keep thinking that food will help level out these emotions - that somehow i feel all these things because i am hungry. but in the middle of eating a bag of cool ranch doritos (no shame) i forget why i was eating them to begin with and i get confused again and tear up.

i really suck a being pregnant.

2. i also realized over the weekend that i also suck at keeping all my plates spinning. because of the circus tent that has become my brain i'm unable to remember anything and when i do remember something i forgot why i was supposed to be remembering it in the first place. and then i eat peanut butter m&m's and forget what i forgot to remember altogether.

3. i love chuys. but more than chuy's i love these gals who i had a totally impromptu lunch with friday.

kelli, abbie, me and amanda

we had such a good time playing with babies and chatting. we sat there for three hours and just gabbed on about boobs and Jesus and everything in between. chris was such a trooper because he sat through the entire meal and provided a lot of entertainment for us as well. :) oh we also ate a lot (and i mean an embarrassingly enormous amount) of creamy jalapeno sauce. so worth it.

4. this weekend we are hosting senior high human sexuality and morality seminar at our church. yes. methodists teach about sex. in a very frank way too. we teach that sex is a good gift, a powerful gift, and a God given gift that has a place in a loving committed marriage relationship. it is quite a lot of fun and i am excited to be attending as a pregnant woman because for the first time in my life, i will not be able to deny doing the deed. i will finally have to actually own up to being a sexually active adult and i'm not going to lie - i'm a little nervous about it. this is completely irrational. i know.

5. this week my main goal is to take pictures of our living room since we are halfway through making it over.

6. instagram will not let me upload pictures and it is seriously getting on my very. last. nerve. i've deleted and redownloaded it, updated my phone, done everything i can think of to fix it and it still just crashes when i pick my picture. any assistance friends? i'd ask you to follow me (@rinderceiia) but what is the point?

edit to add: of course today it starts working. NICE WORK INSTAGRAM MAKE ME A LIAR. hmph.

7. sometimes, i get in trouble for whispering about breast pumps during the children's sermon at church. oops.

8. i have found over the last week or two that i would really enjoy my part time job a lot more if it were socially acceptable to wear my purple polka dotted pajama pants and house shoes up here.

9. i'm trying really hard to take weekly belly pictures but here is the problem. according to my dates, my weeks change over on thursdays. i work from home on thursdays and don't take a lot of time to fix my hair and make up. plus, i look gassy and bloated. not pregnant. so i don't want to document this. so i'd rather wait until i at least look somewhat pregnant, and not like a really pissed off, really uncomfortable woman, with pregnancy acne like a 16 year old before their first prom. i'm going for starting this week since i am finally officially unable to button pants anymore.

10. and finally - girl scout cookies. i've ordered 12 boxes so far. is this too many? can someone please justify this? thank you.

off to have another bag of doritos. (so wish i was joking...)

the life we live vs. the life we'd like to live

2013-01-25T06:28:00.000-06:00

since finding out we were expecting, chris and i have spend a lot of time discussing our home and the purpose it serves and the new ones it will serve in the future. we have been very blessed to have a home full (to the absolute brim) with wonderful hand me down furniture, tons of family heirlooms and knickknacks, and a few things that we have been able to purchase on our own to give some of our own sensibilities to the space.

but now that we have a baby on the way, and we will become our own family, we have really been thinking about how our lives will be and what we want our child to learn from where we live. i think children are greatly affected by the physical surroundings they grow up in. people who grow up with very little tend to want much and people who grew up surrounded by things (this is me) tend to want very little.

my grandmother and my mom both suffered from stuff-itis. they both kept every card we ever gave them and it was a battle to get rid of an article of clothing or a stuffed animal. they like stuff and all the memories that surrounded it. chris' parents are both the same way. his grandparents grew up in the depression and had very, very little when they were growing up. so now, his parents want to keep all the stuff as an indicator that they led rich full lives.

i see nothing wrong with this... for them. but for me, and i know some part of chris desires the same thing, what some people refer to as meaningful reminders of their past are just things to me. stuff. clutter. my mom always thought of me as heartless when i complained about having every single piece of my grandmother's corningware and wanted to sell her massive collection of placemats full of cigarette burns. but this is not the case.

i am very much reminded of my grandma and her pink rollers and red estee lauder lipstick every time i look in the mirror and see my crooked nose that came directly from her. my grandpa is near me every time i hear myself laughing because i inherited my loud (read: obnoxious) laugh from him. i got my stubborn streak from my mimi and my business mind from my uncle pete. (long story: my dad's father died when i was three months old and i have always called him uncle pete. more on all that later). i don't need all of their daily possessions to call their memories to my mind.

i don't need to be drowning in things to remind me of my childhood or chris of his. i don't want my child to think they are obligated to keep everything from their past in order to keep my memory alive when i'm gone. i want them to know that their childhood home (and hopefully their home as an adult with their own children) should be full of things that add purpose and love into their life.

so it has been a struggle (and by some strange legal obligations some things have to stick around for now) but we have been slowly sifting through all these things that mattered to us in the past (like my collection of placemats and napkins and chris' massive hunting armory) and "getting rid of it" in order to make room for things that will serve more purpose in our new lives.

i hate the words "getting rid of it" because it makes it sound like trash or meaningless. and some of it is. but some things deserve to go to someone who will appreciate it and give it a new meaningful life. i want them to serve the same purpose for someone else that i can't make it serve for me.

we discussed at length making our home meet the needs of the life we actually live and not the needs of the life we'd like to live. perfect example: we received three sets of crystal candlesticks as wedding gifts. we are not fancy people and do not host dinner parties where crystal candlesticks would really be used on a regular basis. i think maybe i used them one year as part of Christmas decorations but since then, they've been in a box and packed up. i'm keeping them because they were a wedding gift but that is the only reason i can come up with.

so this year, i'm repurposing them into something that someone else will use and it will add meaning to their life. (i'm selling them in a garage sale...) because crystal candlesticks are not a part of the life we actually live. and honestly they aren't part of a live i'd ever want to live either. hello, cookout on the deck out back where we eat off paper plates. no crystal candlesticks there! that is much more my speed.

so that is where we are in terms of getting our house ready for the baby. we are doing a little every day and sorting through all our things so we can prepare our house for the life we will be living very soon and repurposing all the things that don't fit in that painting.

dear poke

2013-01-21T06:28:00.000-06:00

dear poke,

i think i started feeling you moving around in my belly today. i've heard it will feel like flutters or popping popcorn or butterflies but so far it just feels like you are elbowing me in the uterus. which is so awesome! (ps - your momma is the queen of sarcasm so i will need you to get used to that, asap.)

your dad likes to talk to my belly too. you have ears now and even if you don't know what we are saying, you can hear us talking. he likes you tell you what we did that day and how much we love you and how much it scares us too that you are going to be here before we know it! knowing you can hear me has made me think twice about everything i say. i want to be positive and thoughtful about what i say about everything now!

we got a sonogram on wednesday, january 16th and got to see you moving around in my belly. so far you have at least one arm, two legs, and lots and lots of toes. we go back on february 13th and they will do the full anatomy scan and make sure you have at least one more arm and maybe a few less toes than i think i saw on the screen. your heart rate was 153. half of everyone assures me that you are a girl because of this and the other half assures me you are a boy. i can't wait to find out!

really i can but i know i don't get to wait too long. like i said, you will be in my arms in no time and hopefully i can tell for myself by then :)

you have two fuzzy four legged siblings too. rebel was my first baby. he is my protector and i am hoping and praying he will protect you too. sadie is a loud and noisy beagle, as i'm sure you've heard by now. she likes to bay at everything and i hope she doesn't bother you too much. she is sweet and snuggly and will love you! they know something is up with momma but they can't figure out what it is yet. sadie likes to lay her head on my belly and rebel snuggles up to me at night to make sure i'm protected while i sleep.

you have a cousin who will be born right around the time you are! my cousin tara is also pregnant and due just a couple of weeks before you. you also have a cousin named thomas and he is a little older than you but i bet you guys will be good friends. his dad is my brother (i promise to teach you all this relative stuff when you are older - we have a big family!).

well mom is tired and needs to get some rest. :) promise to write more later!

things i've learned

2013-01-18T06:58:00.000-06:00

for some reason, when you start growing a baby, there is a constant aura around you that says "please, by all means, tell me exactly how to be pregnant and what worked for you and how i'm doing it all wrong."

and sometimes (10%) i welcome opinions and ideas and thoughtful comments like "oh your mood swings will go away". (psh - tell that to my husband, who has named my pregnancy personality calypso after the character in pirates of the caribbean.)

and sometimes i completely ignore everything they are saying and just smile and nod while their words go in one ear and out the other. (90%)

there are three things i've learned so far that i've put in to good use and i'm here to share them with you. like i do, you can take them or leave them! you will not hurt my feelings. however, i seem to have no control over calypso so.... ;)

there is no right or wrong way to "do pregnancy" you can read all the books you want, talk to every pregnant woman that ever walked the earth, read every study ever published, and i still think you could do pregnancy better without any of it. i have always said, and still maintain, that God did indeed make our bodies to do exactly this - bring new life into the world. i'm pretty sure that He knew what he was doing... i don't think i need to read a 3,000 page book on what to expect that will mainly just overwhelm and scare the crap out of me.

we have survived, as a civilization, for thousands of years and only within the last 200 been privy to all of the medical knowledge we have now. i'm going to go with all the women who reproduced in the early 1900s (and before then) who managed pregnancy without a weekly doctor's visit and childbirth with nothing but a semi-experienced midwife and a tub of hot water at their side. this is not to say that i will be having a home birth - i'm definitely taking advantage of the hospital and most likely an epidural. i am saying, however, that i will do it my own way, listen to my own body, and do everything i can to keep me comfortable, which in turn will keep my baby comfortable. that is highest on my priority list.

there are no rewards at the end well except for the baby of course. ;) but seriously - you don't get a trophy for having the healthiest pregnancy ever, or gaining the perfect amount of weight, or having a natural birth without an epidural. no one cares as long as mom and baby are both healthy. they don't make any announcements over the intercom or send you home in a limo for having your baby a certain way or without complications.

so the point is to do pregnancy in whatever way you deem fits your lifestyle and make sure it is for the baby's sake that you make all the decisions that you do.

sometimes you just need to talk to someone one of the first questions i asked my OB was for a recommendation for a family therapist. i haven't called yet but i have her card in my purse because i know, somehow, that before this baby gets here i will need to just talk it all out with someone who can give me some professional reassurance about some of my fears.

i know that every new mom is afraid of being a terrible mother and that bringing a child into the world is just cause for freaking out a little. but my fears run much deeper than that, especially given that i wasn't really gung-ho about having a baby in the first place! so i know i can spill my guts here, and all my amazing mommy friends will swoop in and encourage and support me, (and Lord only knows how much it means to me!) but i know talking to a counselor is something i will need to do. and sometimes you just need to do that. i had a friend tell me once that everyone needs a therapist. i agree with this 100%.

i'd love to just hear some of the things you learned about being pregnant while you were pregnant! i still love to talk with other mom's about being pregnant and hearing their stories and advice. please share - i'd love to get a nice conversation started! :)

tuesday things

2013-01-15T09:45:00.000-06:00

i like to make lists. if it wasn't obnoxious all my blog posts would be in a list format because its easy and that is how my brain thinks. but i'm going to limit it to one a week and make it my tuesday things list. you should join me because lists are fun. :)

1. it is nasty nasty nasty outside. and can i just say that people in the south (in my experience) have no business having to deal with icy weather, high winds, and the like? the temperature today is 33 and it is raining with the chance of an icy mix. all the schools are shut down, the bridges within the city are closed, and i'm pretty sure the stores are all out of batteries and bottled water. people just go crazy with cold weather here!

2. this weekend was super productive around my house. my dad came over and we got a bunch of stuff done to get us moving in the right direction towards having a place to put the baby when we bring Poke home! we hung our new tv and this nifty cord cover thing, put in a new programmable thermostat, ran a water line to our ice maker, and a few other small things to finish out the living room. there will hopefully be a post about my new living room soon! :)

3. one of my goals this year is to connect more and be present. i feel like things just got crazy with the last quarter of last year (launching a business and growing a baby right around the holidays will do that to you!) so this year i want to make more connections and nurture the ones i have already made. sending out love notes is part of that and i sent out my first batch of love notes last week! it was so fun to drop them in the mail knowing i was going to make someone smile when they got it!

4. i used to work at a coffee house and after the morning rush i would always snatch up the paper and work the crossword puzzle. i loved it - it was a great challenge for my brain and taught me to look at words differently. while dad was here and i was cleaning stuff out, i came across a clip board with crossword puzzles (incomplete) from 2010! so i grabbed the sunday paper and made myself snuggle on the couch with my dad and finish it. and it felt good!

5. this week i'm finally starting to feel what i think may be the baby swimming around in there. it is starting to get a bit weird/uncomfortable to sit down and feel my insides all move around to accommodate for my growing lady parts. i have another check up this week and i'm excited to see my doctor again - i really like her!

happy tuesday friends! :)

from man cave to baby cave

2013-01-11T07:28:00.000-06:00

one of the biggest changes our house will see over the course of the next few weeks is changing my husband's ~~cluttered~~ ~~stinky~~ beloved man cave into a nursery for our wee bairn.

someone hold me.

in my husband's defense - we did just finish with hunting season so typically, the room isn't quite this bad throughout the year.

i don't really have an idea set in stone for this space quite yet but that doesn't matter because we have a lot of work to do before we can even begin to focus on this space!

so this is really just a list - to have it written down somewhere - of all the small projects that will eventually add up to a completely made over house (including a shiny nursery with peacefully sleeping baby.)

living room:

1. ~~get rid of the television and behemoth tv stand in the living room~~ - done!
2. ~~get smaller tv stand and television for living room~~ - done!
3. paint living room while it is already a disaster area - in process!

(yes - i definitely put these on here just so i could mark them off! ;)

4. craigslist couch and buy new, smaller couch with an ottoman
5. build a coffee table to replace the long skinny one that doesn't work with the space
6. paint the black cabinets white and trim out to make them look more cohesive
7. move gun cabinet into the living room. (sacrifices must be made people!)
8. we have a closet in the living room that is currently full of unused crafting supplies that will be come the "man-cave-closet" so that will need to be cleaned out!
9. chris says we will eventually put down some laminate floors in here (makes me giddy!) but this isn't essential right now. but i'd still like to have it done!

half bathroom:

this is the bathroom in our bedroom that chris uses. i don't go in here unless totally necessary. i gave it a makeover last year (check it out here) so not much will change but we will be adding some simple shelving so we can store our towels in here instead of the hall closet.

laundry room:

i hate this room more than any other room in our house. it is getting some major changes!

1. get rid of ancient water heater and replace with tankless water heater.
2. move the washer and dryer to sit side-by-side (and the angels sang hallelujah!)
3. of course i'd like to paint it a fun color in the middle of all this - we will see how that goes!
4. remove tiny cabinet set and replace with simple open shelving to provide a ton more storage (freeing up hall closet space, kitchen cabinet space, and able to get rid of the cabinet in there!)
5. re-purposing the other set of cabinets in there as a storage unit for all things home improvement related.

(PS - will you please all leave lots of comments about how brilliant open shelving is and how this will really help with our storage issues and it will not affect the resale value of my house? i need some help convincing chris. he thinks the cabinets are better.)

guest room:

this is a terribly old picture but for now it will have to do. the main thing in here is to possibly replace the full size bed with a daybed/trundle to free up a little space for moving some of the man cave furniture in here. it is still up for discussion though - we haven't made any final decisions.

for the most part this is everything that will need to be done before Poke makes his/her big arrival in july. need is a relative term - this is all the stuff that will make mama feel like she isn't overwhelmed when she walks in the door with this tiny baby and feels like she has nowhere to put it. ;)

if any of you have suggestions as to some other ideas please feel free to throw them out there! i'm all ears and would love some advice from my momma friends!

stitch fix #1

2013-01-10T07:28:00.000-06:00

(this post can also be titled, "honey can you come take some awkward pictures of me on the back porch please?)

have you jumped on the stitch fix bandwagon yet? if not you are missing out! i was a little skeptical at first - i don't really love to shop because clothes just fit me weird. I am short and curvy, and this pregnancy so far has only made my tatas and hips bigger which doesn't help with being able to find clothes that fit me comfortably.

the great thing about stitch fix though is you are able to completely customize your shipments to what you want to try out. so i stuck with tops and dresses and away from pants since that is where i seem to have the most problems. i didn't want to waste an article of clothing on a pair of pants when i could have found a great top!

one other thing i didn't really think about when filling out my profile was the fact that by the time i would receive the clothes, my growing bustline would really change the way tops fit me too. so i signed up for all large tops, which usually works well for me, but it turns out i should have probably asked for extra large instead.

so... i really liked everything i got but nothing fit me correctly! they were all really tight in the shoulders and chest area (duh) so i was pretty bummed that i had to send it all back. however - trying on clothes in my own home, and pairing them with items i already owned and being able to see if they would really fit in my wardrobe, was a lot of fun! chris enjoyed the fashion show too! :) so let's get to the pictures! :)

this black tunic with the gold detailing was my favorite item in the shipment for sure. i've been wanting a sheer top and i love the way it fit around my middle - if it fit around my shoulders i could have worn it through my second trimester for sure. but, alas, i couldn't even lift my arms in it without fear of ripping the back. :(

i LOVED this flowy cardigan! it is different from anything else i have in my closet (i'm not one to jump all over a print and mostly stick with solids) so it was fun to try something different! however, it was also so tight through my shoulders there was no way it would have been comfortable long term. back in the box it went!

i really loved the idea of this dress. it has all these trendy notes in it (the hi/lo hemline, the peter pan color, the bright jewel tone) and had it fit correctly (i sound like a broken record) i would have definitely stuck it in my closet! but, again, back to stitch fix it went. more sad faces.

overall - i really enjoyed playing dress up and trying new and different styles - things i would have never picked for myself! i'm definitely changing my profile and trying some different things in my next fix!

stitch fix details: for $20, a stylist will put together a few items for you to try out (based on a really extensive profile) and ship them to your doorstep. they even include ideas on what to pair the clothes with and how to accessorize them. it is really stylish shopping for dummies - perfect for people like me with no style whatsoever or busy moms who need a quick pick me up! :) if you like something, the $20 styling fee goes towards the items price! or if you want to keep everything, you get a great 25% discount off! (in my shipment that would have saved me close to $150!)

wanna give it a try? click here and sign up! they are still in beta mode but i got my invite within a couple of weeks and my first fix quickly after that! what do you have to lose? i say you should go shopping ;)

post contains referral links. i get a teensy credit if you sign up, that is all!

when you count you begin with 1, 2, 3...

2013-01-09T07:58:00.000-06:00

when you sing you begin with do, re, mi!

sound of music anyone?
(liz - i hope you are reading this. i just made you smile really big didn't i?)

let's discuss some things you've probably already noticed and added together.

(ps - if you are in a reader click on over and see... so you won't be scratching your head wondering what we are talking about!)

first of all - my blog got a little makeover. no doubt you can probably see why...

i'm pregnant!

(surprise?!)

yes indeed - i peed on a stick on november fifth and whoopsiedaisy - two pink lines showed up. pretty quickly too.

so i guess now you are wondering what the sound of music has to do with my uterus. well not much, except that i knew i wanted to start blogging again to document the pregnancy (and hopefully all that comes after) and didn't know where to start. (ahhhhh - yes i see the head nods and light bulbs flickering!)

i wasn't shocked at all by the positive test - i had a pretty sneaking suspicion i was ~~knocked up~~ with child. i had all the classic symptoms - most apparent were complete physical exhaustion and my boobs hurt like crazy. chris wasn't even allowed to look at them for a while.

our tiny tot's first ever photo. ever. (this is so going in the senior slide show)

they tell me that this is a baby. that somehow, this little static-y blob on the screen will grow into a real, live, human, complete with kicking legs and screaming lungs and that i will just love it forever and ever. i'm still a bit skeptical.

i know i will love this baby and that my brain and heart will eventually get in line together and work it all out, but so far i haven't had much of a maternal instinct kick in. don't worry - i will get there.

(that is me talking to myself, not you guys...)

the second photo of our child - looks a little less like an egg yolk and more like a tad pole to me.

i count myself pretty lucky so far...

i'm out of my first trimester (13 weeks and 6 days) and i didn't have any morning sickness. i don't like to talk about this too much because i know people who've lost almost 20 pounds in their first trimester and i know how miserable they were. so that is a huge blessing.

i've gotten to have two sonograms already! i don't think that is normal either. but i didn't have an OB when i found out i was pregnant. i went to see my gyno, she did a quick sonogram to to confirm the pregnancy (and that there was only one - hallelujah!) and she referred me to my OB who also wanted to take a look at the bebe. so whoopie! two sonos already! plus i really needed the physical evidence myself. both times.

the facebook/instagram announcement picture. i've always wanted to announce a pregnancy this way. (yep - i'm a dork)

this child is barely the size of a lime and even if i can't woo myself into loving it, it already has about 15 grandmas, grampies, papas, auntie nanas, aunties, unclies, tias, and cousins. i think the bebe is set for life.

i bought this to be a diaper bag but the more i look at it, the more i'm convinced that momma just needs to keep it for herself.

so anywho - the baby is due july 11th. everyone mark your calendars. we aren't finding out the sex of the baby because my mom always said that hearing "it's a _____" was the best surprise she could have ever had. so until the little booger gets here, we are calling it Poke.

i'm excited to start my blog back up and share with everyone what all is going on in my heart, brain, and home to get ready for Poke's big arrival. do you think a parade is too much to plan in honor of a newborn? ;)

oh, and mostly because i'm still stoked about it, i rewarded myself for working my tail off last year with this beauty. it was a bit of a thrill to get it and see "mclain family planner" on the front.

the mclains are a family now. welcome to the journey!

Liz's Wedding Weekend

2012-09-22T06:30:00.000-05:00

such a wonderful experience - i'm so lucky to have a friend like liz who stretches me to do things i never thought i could! i am proud to be a part of her life. :)

making preparations

2012-09-10T09:54:00.000-05:00

please pin from original source: leonora @ yellow heart art

i'm quite hesitant to actually admit this out loud but this whole virtual assistant thing has taken off. like. madly exploded and pushing the boundaries of out of control. and man, if i'm not loving every minute of it then i'm crazy.

because i totally am! i can't quite wrap my head around the fact that something i've done, created, and loved has been so fun and successful for me in such a short amount of time.

i'm so proud of myself. but i don't want to rush into getting too appreciative of it and falling into that dangerous comfort zone where my brain says "ya girl you got this!" and then something awful happens. which is the very reason i was hesitant to state all this in the first place.

however, i think it is important to pat yourself on the back every once in a while and congratulate yourself on a job well done. and it is hard to do this so publicly because i don't want to sound like i'm bragging but i need for other people to hear it and confirm it to make it so.

i made up this arbitrary goal to be working from home as a full time va in 2013, never thinking i could actually do it and knowing that if it was going to happen it would take some divine intervention.

it so appears that God had this on his goal list too because it is becoming a serious possibility.

commence me being both squealing with delight and cowering from fright.

i'm not one to go into something so life changing without doing a little preparation and research so i thought i'd share here some things i am doing to prepare for working at home.

{holy cannoli batman is this happening to me?}

if you know of the original source please let me know so i can give credit!

1. accepting this as a fact.

it is really going to happen.
it is really going to happen.
it is really going to happen.

i keep repeating this to myself hoping to somehow ingrain it so far into my brain that any other possibility just goes away.

2. getting cozy with my budget.

i said this in the launch post, but sticking to a strict budget is going to take some serious dedication from me. the only way this will work is if i do that and keep a steady income. save save save. spend less. that is my motto for the rest of the year.

(dear family - you are all getting hugs from the mclains for christmas.)

3. preparing for the worst.

i don't mean the worst in a monetary sense either. i hear horror stories of people who think working from home will just be the bestest thing ever and then when it actually happens they have a total meltdown and lose touch with themselves. they forget what human contact is, stay holed up in their office, and never shut off. so i'm gearing up for that first day when i wake up and say to myself

self. we got work to do.

and then get on pinterest all day. because i know it could happen. i'm just preparing my brain so that it won't.

4. coming up with a schedule.

i knew from the very start that i would need a schedule. my little brain operates best in blocks of time and a truly scheduled out day. so i started out by immediately setting office hours for my virtual assistant business. nothing (no emails, no work, nothing) after my stated closing time of 6ish. that isn't to say a frantic email will be ignored but after six dinner gets going, netflix gets turned on, a walk is taken, and time with the hubs is important. oh and a bath. always gotta have my bath. ;)

5. staying in touch with the humans.

i mean the real live ones outside of the computer screen. the ones that i can see and touch in real life. so lunch out of the house once or twice a week may be in order. or joining a knitting group or hosting a bible study. something to completely disengage my brain from the world of twitter, HTML, and newsletters.

who are we kidding? i don't know how to knit.

6. setting up a real work area.

right now my desk is in my kitchen. it is an old vanity and while i love it (i did put quite a bit of work into it) it really isn't the best place for someone to sit and work at in front of a computer. it is a little too high, has awkward storage, and could probably be situated somewhere less central in the house to allow me some privacy and less distraction.

honey, you might have to share that man cave with me.

7. stay humble

i will be assigning the task of slapping me around a bit whenever i start to get on a high horse to a few of my closest friends (internet and real life). i don't consider myself a really obnoxious person when it comes to success but sometimes i do need a little slap of reality to keep me fully in check.

please pin from original source: joy's hope

***
so i need some opinions from folks i know who work from home. what would you do differently if you could start over? what is your biggest life saver that makes working from home doable? i'd love some advice and guidance from those who have some experience with it!

how to: ask for a product review

2012-09-07T06:47:00.001-05:00

one of my many tasks in my new gig as a virtual assistant has been to help handmade artists decide on blogs to offer products to for a review. i have offered a couple of products to bloggers to review on their blogs, but i've never asked to do one.

it appears that lots of folks (mainly product review bloggers) just send out mass messages to people asking for a product. i'm here today to give you a little insider knowledge that will probably help you get your foot in the door with business owners.

1. do a little research!

i have seen many messages that just state: hi! i love your product and think my readers would love it to. i'd like to review it, blah blah blah. this immediately tells me that you don't even really know what the product you are requesting is.

take an extra five minutes to look at the store front and read a little about the product before you go all willy-nilly with the mass messages. addressing a product by its name will do wonders for you. showing that you know even just a tiny bit about it will go further to guarantee that the business owner believes you really like the product and that you just don't want free stuff.

2. give lots of information!

i've filtered through lots of emails that don't include a link to the blog or youtube channel. how on earth am i supposed to know where to find you and check out your pretty little spot on the internet if you don't tell me. people (generally speaking) aren't psychic and if they have to take the extra step of hunting you down or asking where your blog is then you most likely aren't going to get the chance to review anything.

keep this as a little checklist to mark off and make sure you don't miss anything:

*email address
*blog/youtube url

yep. that is really all they need.

3. have a somewhat professional email address!

it's quite alright by me if you want to be mizzghettobootythang@mail.com with your friends, but if you want to be taken seriously when asking for a review, consider setting up a more professional email address just for reviews. email addresses are free all over the place so there is really no excuse to not do this.

4. consider your blog design!

now i'm not saying you need to drop hundreds or thousands on a beautiful blog design. however, if your blog is full of blinking ads, horrible fonts, terrible colors, sparkly tinkerbells (for real), is hard to navigate or has a terrible layout, a business owner is not going to want the product they have worked so hard to perfect to get lost within all the buzz on your page. keep it simple. less is more. you get my drift?

5. have a disclosure page!

it is so, so, so important (in my opinion) for me to know 100% that readers understand your disclosure policy. your review should be thorough but more importantly it should be honest. if for any reason they think your opinion has been affected by compensation then a business owner isn't going to want to work with you. they send their products out for honest reviews so they can either keep doing what they are doing or make the necessary changes to make it better.

having a disclosure policy protects the blogger and the business owner. have one and make it clear and easy to find from the home page.

6. actually use the product!

the best way to give a thorough review is to use the products. seems simple right? but i've seen lots of review where the product is taken out of the box, shown to the reader in the package, maybe opened and smelled and then that is it.

come on now. how am i supposed to know if that lotion will make my skin baby soft, if that juice will turn my tongue orange, or if the earrings are poor quality.

when you ask for the review, let them know it will be a couple of weeks so that you have time to try out the products and make sure of their quality and likeability before you post about it.

***
what are some other tips you have for asking? have you had an extremely good or bad experience? i'd love to hear about it! :)

amendments, announcements, and affirmations

2012-09-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

IT'S HERE!

today is the day that i have been blabbering on about in vlogs, on other people's blogs, and with my family and closest friends. today is the culmination of serendipitous meetings, gutsy emails, and lots and lots of conversations with God.

today is the day that i officially launch my new business.

wait.. let me get my megaphone...

TODAY IS THE DAY I LAUNCH MY NEW BUSINESS!

can you hear me in the back? ;)

i've been offering my services to a few bloggers, and when i discovered that i absolutely loved it, it occurred to me that i could really make this a full time job. when i started asking around, i figured out that some bloggers and indie biz owners don't even know how helpful it can be to have someone helping them out.

i talked to chris, i talked with God, i started doing my research and really planning out what it would look like.

things literally just fell into place. plink, plink, plink.

do you need a virtual assistant? what can i do for you? how much is it? how does it work? you can find all this, plus a plethora of more information over at my new website. bookmark it. just because you don't need virtual assistant services now doesn't mean you won't in the future.

i specialize in helping out bloggers and indie biz owners; however, if you need help and you aren't in these two categories, don't let that hold you back! i've worked in a professional environment for years and have plenty of experience there as well.

my ultimate goal (God willing) is to be working as a virtual assistant, from home, full time, in 2013.

what does this mean for my blog?

i've learned over the past few weeks that sometimes, in order to grow and thrive, you have to prune off some of the dead or dying parts of yourself.

John 15:1-4 {the message}
I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

i don't necessarily consider this blog to be dying by any means, but it certainly hasn't been fruitful and that is because God clearly wanted me focusing on something else. so, like i've said in recent posts, you won't find me much around here anymore.

one major change is since i will not be posting regularly, i will no longer be accepting sponsors. i love to swap ads. i love all the lovely folks i meet. but, whether they pay me or not, if i cannot meet my obligations there i don't want them signing up for something they won't get.

what about thumbprint desigsn?

as for my shop, it will stay open! yay! i still love and want to paint. i still love and want to design note cards and subway art. i need that as a creative outlet and a way to center myself after a long day in front of the computer.

what does this mean for you skye?

you are so kind to ask. ;)

this will mean many things for me.

1. it will mean learning to balance a schedule. for now, i will be figuring out how to work a full time job + complete all my VA assignments on the side. this will entail late night hours, buying a second computer power cord, answering emails over coffee at 6 am, and teaching myself how to do lots of things i never thought i could.

2. once i get established, i will have to un-routine myself to having two full time jobs and get my schedule in check so that i have time to spend with the hubs, time to cook, time to work out and time to soak in a little bit of just me. :)

3. this will mean me not spending a dime. in order for this to work, i cannot buy anything except the essentials (and i'm trying to figure an erin condren planner into my essentials list) because every penny of my income will be going to paying down bills so we can make this work financially. this will be incredibly hard for me. i like stuff and i typically like to spend money when i am depressed about being broke. do you see this terrible pattern here?

4. in the big picture, it will bring me much comfort to know that once i have an established, work from home job, i will be much more comfortable with my life and i'll have a little more freedom to do ministry with my husband. my heart yearns to spend more time with him reaching out in the summers but i'm never able to take that much time off. so this will be an answer to prayer. :)

aren't you scared?

are you kidding me? i'm completely petrified.

but man. God takes care of that fear. i have never been more affirmed in a decision to do something in my life. i've always approached something knowing (not from self-loathing but from a deep place in my soul) that i would never be good or successful at it.

i might be scared to make this big leap and potentially be self employed, but i am affirmed in my decision by my husband, my family and my friends. and of course, most important, by God.

all of that to say...

go! go check out the website, please share this monumental news with your friends, (it's super easy, just click that little tweet it button down there!) and please pat yourselves on the back for all inspiring me in such a way that i am able to do the scary things.

love you all!

coffee date

2012-08-24T06:48:00.000-05:00

i am giving serious consideration to becoming a full time vlogger. it is so much quicker than typing up a post and aligning it all correctly and finding, editing, hosting pictures... with a vlog i can just do a quick recording and actually talk to you (even though i mostly just pretend there is someone sitting across from me talking back!) and three minutes later it is done.

anyways - alissa from rags to stitches and i had a nice chat last night about all kinds of things from dishwashers to blissdom to my shop and the future of my blog. that girl is full of indie biz goodness and marketing know how. if you haven't gotten to know her then i highly suggest you do. it was lovely to get to "hangout" with her last night! i hope that our future holds many more biz-talking sessions... *hint-hint alissa...*

anywho, without further ado, let's have some early morning coffee, eh?

my new haircut!!!

2012-08-14T19:42:00.001-05:00

the full reveal, yall! :)

xoxo