Martinique wallpaper.

When she told me so loved turquoise and coral I was like, obviously, turquoise and coral are great pals.

 As are turquoise and orange, turquoise and red, turquoise and pink!

And navy…Or its sassy sister, peacock blue, is a great chaperone for those two party colors.

So we came up with a great room plan that we both loved.

And I sent her into a local store to buy her linens.

Where the apparently quite dull proprietor of the store told her that there was no way turquoise and coral could go together in a room. Uh, lady? I beg to differ.

Right??

We were never big Mother’s/Father’s day celebrators in my house. Not that we didn’t love the mommas and the papas, but I feel like I was always at camp or something during the parental holidays, and I think they usually just involved a card or some flowers etc. Now, after my first Mother’s Day, I know that it is the most important and sacred holiday of the entire festive calendar.

Pete made it the most pleasant of the days, since Gracie is kind of self involved right now and rarely takes the time to properly acknowledge all we do for her.

“Whas mudders day?”

This afternoon Pete is sending me for an afternoon of beauty, although I am not sure I deserve it after the house cat day I had yesterday while he tended to our child.

Some other things on my brain. I am sure you have all seen it, but the new Lonny is ridiculous.

Congrats to Jamie Meares. 

Her project featured in the issue was out of control. I have been feeling a little uninspired by the spreads I have seen in mags lately, and this one got me SO excited about decorating again. I talk about her a lot on here because I love what she does over at Furbish, but this was like Miles/Olsen/Ridder/Kemble level for me. Which is mayj.

Shifting gears to something equally mayj.

This mothers day gift to myself is going to change my whole world.

Cell phone case, billz holder, wristlet. 

I can take it out and dance with my hands up. I can toss it in the diaper bag, I can clip my keys to it and carry Gracie with it in the store and she can’t reach over my shoulder and empty the contents of my purse on the floor in the check out lane. I simply cannot overstate my excitement about this development.

That is all I have for you this Monday morning.

Thank you all, again, for your tender words last week.

Especially on the scars. It does help to see them as a reminder of our miracle, I do think it would be a whole lot easier to think of them as beautiful if they were just a weeee bit smaller. Winks. I’ll get there.

I also want y’all to know that I do not walk around my daily life berating myself. A few of you mentioned you wish I wouldn’t be so hard on myself, and although it might sound like it in these posts, but I really don’t hate myself or the way I look. I know to a lot of people I might not even seem overweight, but this really isn’t about how other people see me. As I have said from the beginning it is about being comfortable with myself, so that I can reflect a positive and healthy relationship with my body and with food and exercise to my girl. And these posts are the time each week when I reflect on how things are going, and I try to be really honest with y’all about the things I am struggling with because I have found talking about it to help, and your feedback is always amazing.

There’s some deep seeded issues with food and exercise and my body floating around in my head, and I do feel like I have started to address those by airing them out and taking the long way in this journey of sorts. And while I haven’t full wrapped my head around loving my scars, I definitely do love my overall body a lot more for keeping our girl safe and cozy.

I guess I would say it makes me feel more connected to my body.

I have also learned some hard truths.

Perhaps, none harder than the truth about guacamole.

Delivered to me unceremoniously by Simon Doonan.

“Suddenly the hostess plonks a bucket of guacamole on the table and the frenzy goes into overdrive…the dudes storm the guac, double, triple, and quadruple dipping their chips into the sloppy green oily mush…Restraining myself from shrieking, ‘Stop it, girls! Just stop it!’ I make the effort to switch to analytical/caring/concered mode. Have these dudes any idea how much fat is entering their bodies? How will they offset this catastrophic intake of calories in the coming days and weeks? Are they planning on doing a cleanse?”

“There’s a lethal amount of fat in guacamole,” he went on. “A friend of mine was just going off to Mexico, and I said to her: ‘If you get kidnapped, remember to tell your kidnappers: no guacamole. You cannot be in a confined space ingesting guacamole. You’ll become so enormous.’ ”

But wait, I wondered. Isn’t avocado supposed to be good for your skin?

“Maybe if you apply it topically,” he said.

BUT SIMON!!!
Guacamole is green! Like vegetables!
And delicious.

Way harshe.

And would you believe me if I told you that I genuinely had no idea guacamole was that bad for you? And don’t talk to me about good fat, fat is fat when you are trying to lose weight. It has been a pretty mind blowing fact to wrap my head around over here, but knowledge is power and if I am going to partake in some calorie-a-palooza I would at least like to be aware that is what I am doing.

This reminds me of another one of those sneaky “good fats”: peanut butter.

I actually loathe peanut butter. But every day for about a month post baby I would have a snack of peanut butter and apples because I thought that was healthy as in diet. Literally, I was gagging on the PB thinking to myself that if I could just manage to choke it down, I would be skinny in no time. Ummm false.

I just wanted you guys to be aware the level of confusion and readjustment we are dealing with here.

Please let me know if you suspect there might be another secret calorie bomb in my repertoire that I might be blissfully unaware of. But if any of you tell me brussel sprouts are fattening I might have a melt down, so tread lightly.

Oh, and because I am sure you were all waiting with bated breath, I am cutting the weave. After June 1 as a celebration when I get finished with this public humiliation diet.

*btw, I am going to stop blogging about the dieting weekly after June 1, but I am not quitting, just continuing on with my goals privately*

Outfit…

To room…

To tummy.

But look!

Madeline loves pink and red.

And rainbows too.

Our little pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (Mr. Banks) coming to you all shortly.

And this is the leprechaun guarding it.

My lucky charm.

I really do read and value each comment, and especially on topics like Friday it helps to know I am not the only one struggling with this stuff…

BUT

Today I have no time for those kinds of thoughts, I gotta get this house ready for its photo shoot tomorrow.

Styling is so important.

I suck at styling.

I am more of a big picture kind of lady.

I wish my girl Alaina was here to help a sister out. She styled me up for our Rue shoot last year.  

I will be referring to her article on The Everygirl about coffee table styling and trying to learn a few things.

Despite a macaroon fest brought on by sweet Pete, I am down 12 pounds this week!

Which feels pretty good.

And I feel more like myself, event though I know “myself” means something very different now that I have a baby.

Non-Superficial Thought: It has been really hard for me to adjust not only to my new bigger bod, but also it has been really super hard for me to accept all of the scars. I don’t want to give y’all too hot a visual at work on a Friday, but I ended up with a whole lot of crazy stretch tear scars in the last few weeks of the pregnancy because the tumor was making the fluid, and my tummy, grow exponentially. And I know you are probably thinking, that is an extremely superficial concern. But for real, on a deep level, the scarring thing has been traumatic for me. Or really, maybe, they are the physical reminder of the traumatic thing we went through, but either way when I think about them or look at them I get really emotional and I am trying to deal with that. And learn to accept them. And maybe try to see them as beauty marks like one cheesy sauce self help thing I read suggested.

Super Superficial Thought: I am still thinking I need to cut my hair. A lot of you asked in that picture I used in the David Beckham post how I maintain my long locks with a baby constantly trying to scalp me using the surprising strength in her teensy arms, and really I don’t. She yanks it out all day, so it usually just ends up in a pony, and ultra long hair in a pony just looks ratty.

So I am thinking about doing locks of love, chop suey off like 10 inches, and go for the Reese?

I feel like it is a compromise betwixt my desire for bangs (to hide my BeetleJuice post-baby bangs), and the pain in the ass reality of bangs.

Thoughts?
On any of the words I put up today?

I know a lot of y’all have decided that commenting isn’t cool.

But you are wrong! Commenting is the COOLEST!!!!

I was very flattered because I happen to think Katie Ridder is the titties. And I have for awhile.

I even let myself copy her be heavily influenced by her in the guest bath at our Chicago house.

Here we used her wallpaper.

And I was obviously inspired by her tile…

That she did in this bath.

Anyway, Mrs.Furbish was talking about Katie Ridder’s spread in the current issue of Southern Living…
Which is really a pretty great issue. 

In general.

This obviously being the highlight.

Oh, and just FYI…Our house is getting photographed next week, and as soon as the pictures are ready I will be sharing them with all of you.
BAM!

This client has been a dream. For her bedroom she had already painted the walls this dark purpley gray, which was staying. As were her campaign side tables painted in the same dark gray. She also had a swatch of fun fabric she wanted to use as the inspiration for the rest of the room, which we had made into a bolster pillow on the bed. And that headboard. I can barely even speak of. Brass button tufted.

Everything.

They needed some extra storage, and wanted some seating. I suggested this Jonathan Adler chest, which was within their budget, but I also suggested she look around locally for something with the same scale and feel.

And look what that boss client lady found.

On her local craig, $150 bones. I don’t think I need to tell you that is a LOT less than the JA piece, and I love the vintage character.

Loved how everything came together in general, and can’t wait to see her execute this slexy (that would be sleek and sexy) master.

If you want to see what I can do for you, email me at peppermintbliss@gmail.com for rates and availability.

Hint: I am affordable and available.

Such a hussy.