steph hammer

Boston's birth story

2016-12-12T12:23:00.002-07:00

Monday, Nov 21: Labor; Am I actually high?

The day before I felt so sick and just *off* that I went home from church to lay down and rest, thinking to myself that I didn't know if I could be pregnant for much longer. Even Nick had commented that I definitely looked pregnant now. (I didn't actually look pregnant until I was well into my third trimester, so this was a big deal for me to finally look the part!)

So Monday around noon when contractions started getting painful and I started timing them at 15 minutes apart, I called my mom and suggested Beckham come have a sleepover that night *just in case.*

Normally I wouldn't try to be at the hospital so early in labor but I tested GBS positive this pregnancy and based on how fast my labor went last time I wanted to make sure I got in with enough time to get at least one round of IV antibiotics before delivering.

My dad picked him up on his way home from work and I helped pack the car. After I said goodbye and shut the car doors, I looked at Beckham in the back seat and thought, "This is the last time I'll see him before the baby comes! This is the last day that it was just us pal'in around." And I wished we had done more! I wished we had more time to be "just us." But then he waved goodbye and they were off.

And before I could get inside the house the reality of my labor hit me and I was in tears. Picture a pregnant lady walking around her house ugly crying, cleaning, packing a suitcase and also stopping every 8 minutes to breathe through a contraction.

I hopped into the shower so I could relax with the shower head pointed at my lower back (back labor AGAIN, what is it with these babies of mine) and waited for Nick to come home from school and I CRIED. Hard. Nick walked in and I realized how silly I must have looked crying and doubled over in the shower, but he was loving and helped get everything ready to go.

Eventually the house was clean, the car was packed, and once I verified that my contractions were consistently getting stronger, longer, and closer together we were on our way. By the time we made it to the hospital contractions were roughly 5 minutes apart. I felt pretty confident that this HAD to be it!

I was trying to put on a brave face and the girls at the front desk kept telling me to stop smiling or nobody would believe I was really in labor, but trust me when I say these dang contractions were painful and getting stronger.

Soon I had the monitor on to prove it. Yep I was definitely in labor.

Except I wasn't progressing.

After not dilating or effacing further for an hour after check-in, they had us walk around the hospital for another hour to see if we could get things going. But nothing. After 3+ hours of NOTHING and sitting at 3cm dilated, they couldn't admit me or keep us there because I wasn't 38 weeks yet (and other reasons) and sent us home.

They asked if I wanted a shot of morphine to help with the pain, assuring me that sometimes women just need to relax at home for awhile to get labor really going and I would probably be coming back later that night. So in my heartbroken and depressed state of "I can't believe I can be in this much pain and not be progressing and I can't believe I have to go home right now" said yes, give me the drugs.

I've never had morphine before. I never took any sort of drugs or pain medication, never drank alcohol, no coffee, and I don't even know what it's like to drink caffeinated soda. Someone once asked me if I wanted a "special brownie" but I shut that nonsense down real quick. I'm pretty sure I now know what it's like to be on the hardest of hard drugs.

I walked out of the hospital and started shaking UNCONTROLLABLY. We cranked up the heat in the car and I cried and complained about how sad I was that we had to go home and how I was so done with this. We were getting off the freeway and it was like I was instantly completely 100% tired and nothing in this world could keep me awake. A few minutes later, down the street from our house, through my brain fog I asked Nick to pull over because I was certain I would barf. Suddenly, I felt like I was on the surface of the sun and had Nick turn on the AC while I opened my door to the snow falling outside, and literally felt that the only way I could help my condition was if I threw myself onto the ground and laid in the snow. Obviously I know better (no snow laying for me) and eventually felt good enough to drive the rest of the way home where Nick helped me to my bed (I couldn't tell if I was walking or floating, really) and I promptly fell asleep, in my clothes, makeup still on.

Tuesday, Nov 22: Hallelujah it's a boy!

I spent the night in a never-ending cycle of "kind of sleeping" and "having a painful contraction" until it was eventually morning and time to head to my regularly scheduled OB/GYN appointment. In my state of pure painful exhaustion (like having to put my toothbrush down more than once and squat while I hung onto the bathroom sink to get through the contractions) I threw some clean clothes on and we headed out the door. Nick asked if we should bring our bags and I said, "No, there's no reason to." Luckily he was optimistic when I didn't have a sliver of hope, and he brought them anyways.

The whole drive is a blur, I don't think I opened my eyes once while I tried to breathe through the contractions. In the office I couldn't even muster a smile as I checked in and went back. In the bathroom I noticed I there were streaks of blood on the toilet paper, and I got a little excited. Maybe I was progressing! Maybe this was it!

My blood pressure was high when it had always been low. My hopes were getting higher.

I sat in our room and the nurse informed me that my Dr. had just left to deliver a baby and would be back soon. I labored in that office like my life depended on it, breathing the right way to help with dilation and trying not to cry. If this wasn't it and I wasn't having a baby today I didn't know what I would do.

Eventually my Dr. came in and I lost it. I started crying and she looked at me and empathetically asked, "Are you in labor?" and I nodded. She agreed that I look like I'm in a lot of pain and said "we should have this baby today, yeah?" I agreed. She checked me and enthusiastically said, "YEP you're 5 cm dilated and I'm sending you downstairs!" I SOBBED I was so relieved and excited! THIS REALLY WAS IT!

So we checked into labor & delivery and once in the room I immediately asked for the epidural. I was so done feeling the pain and was ready to enjoy this birth! Once the epidural was in and working I was able to rest a little and hang out.

(I would like to title this photo "Druuuuuuuugs")

I felt a huge gush and let my nurse know that I thought my water just broke.

"Oh yeah that's normal."

She goes to change the bed pad underneath me and there's BLOOD. so much blood. everywhere. Now I've watched enough Grey's Anatomy to know that bleeding like that during labor isn't a good thing, and I started to panic. I grabbed Nick's hand and squeezed it as hard as I could.

She looked worried.

"Okay, I'm going to call your doctor and have her come check on you."

WHAT.

Is my baby getting oxygen? Am I going to die? Will I pass out in a few minutes and wake up tomorrow with a C-Section scar and my baby in the NICU? WHAT IS HAPPENING?

So my Dr. came to check on me and said, "Hmm okay let's break your water to make sure everything's okay with the baby." so she does and there's no blood in the amniotic fluid, or something, so we're good? But I'm still bleeding and don't feel any better about the situation.

"Alrighty, so, we can fix this by delivering your baby!"

She informed me that he was currently "sunny side up" which was probably why my painful labor didn't progress the night before, and they were going to try to get him to rotate by having me squeeze the blow-up peanut between my legs for a little while.

I was 9cm dilated, which meant this baby was coming so soon. He never ended up rotating, but my Dr. told me she could help him turn as I pushed. A little while later I was ready to go and relieved that everything was okay (so far) but this baby HAD to come out NOW (remember I was sleep deprived and everything was magnified a quadrillion percent, so basically I was the James Bond/Ethan Hunt of delivering babies at the moment) and I put my game face ON.

The epidural was perfect and I could still feel pressure but no pain. I pushed 3 times during the first contraction. My Dr. helped him rotate to face my back as I pushed and told me she could see a head of hair! I pushed 3 times during the second contraction and his head was out! I laugh-cried a serious sigh of relief. The next contraction came and I pushed once more. Before I knew it they were placing my tiny little crying baby on my chest!

Nick cut the cord and he was all mine. Our little piece of heaven was finally here!

I was so relieved and happy that I didn't even hear when my Dr. told me I didn't tear at all, that I "did so well!" and that the source of the bleeding was a partial placental abruption, but everything was okay now that baby was delivered.

Boston continued to cry his little baby cry. They weighed and measured him: 6 pounds 15 oz., 20.5 inches. Born on the 22nd of the month, 38 weeks exactly, and around 1:30 in the afternoon (just like Beckham!)

Everything past that point is a blur, and once in our recovery room my family brought Beckham to meet his new brother. He was so cute when he pointed to the bassinet and said "Ohhhh, baby brother!" and got to give him kisses and hold him.

We had loving visitors (my grandparents brought us cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory! THAT I remember.) and were both well enough to be able to leave the next day to spend Thanksgiving at home with family (lucky us!)

I love being a mom of 2 and we're even able to get a little sleep every now and then! Boston is a great eater and sleeper, and Beckham is sweet and can get me things when I ask. ;) Gosh we are elated and feel so blessed that everything went good and we're a happy (despite the looks in the pictures below), healthy family of 4! I love my boys!

a farewell

2016-01-13T14:02:00.001-07:00

(family photos by samantha kelly photography)

going into the new year, I've decided to give this old blog the boot.

I never really cared about it all that much, except for the occasional showing off of my family and being snarky.

Even though the dream of being a big shot blogger has crossed my mind more times than I'd like to admit, it's just not for me. I don't care enough. I'm not the kind of person who does that, and that's okay! I always found myself consumed with thoughts of "should I blog this? This would be great to blog!" and I felt that it robbed me of my experiences. That's absolutely my fault, though. People can blog and not be consumed by that, and that's awesome! It's definitely a downer in my life, though, and again I'm sad to admit that because blogging can be such a great tool.

I'm so lucky to have met and got to know so many people through this site! I'm an introvert, and special relationships are what are important to me. Friendships forged here will literally never be forgotten.

However, I'm not sad to see it go. I have so many more things to pay attention to like my (hopefully) growing family, my business I'm starting, making more time for music, traveling, learning Italian, and so many more things I hope to accomplish.

Here's to building a life that feels good & not just looks good on a blog!

DIY felt advent calendar

2016-01-01T17:35:00.001-07:00

okay, so maybe the title of this post is misleading, but I made this whole thing by myself which is pretty awesome.

actually no, I had help from my mom, sister & nick, so not all by myself.

the pockets are 2"x2" and sewed on in 2" by the width (of the banner) strips of felt, on the bottom of the strips and between the dates.

The tree was cut, pinned, and sewed on using a machine.

I folded over the top until it made a loop, and sewed that. Then I put a dowel in it and some ribbon to tie it up. I think next year I'm going to get some red and white baker's twine instead of ribbon.

Each felt ornament was made by hand using tacky glue and hand-sewing. We used sequins, puffy paint glitter, pom poms, minky fabric, and good old ingenuity.

I'm usually pretty bad at crafting, but this turned out so good. I'm so excited to have this in my house for all my kids to use!

christmas at our house 2015

2016-01-01T17:20:00.000-07:00

We took down our Christmas decorations yesterday (boohoo!) and I'm having withdrawals from the empty space and absence of piney scent from our Christmas tree, so this will have to do.

The whole time we've been married we haven't had a nice, sunny, big house to decorate for Christmas, but this year we do! The only thing missing is a beautiful fireplace with a big mantel, but you won't hear me complaining!

We had the lights up before Thanksgiving, and some of them are staying up for good (woops) because there's too much happiness and glow that comes from their sparkle.

A lot of people are asking like where we get our big calendar. It's called a "Stendig calendar" and this is our 3rd year having it in our house (like literally we have to buy one and have it in our house now or it just doesn't feel like home!)

I found a hot pink cardboard dear head in the dollar section at Target, and I knew I had to have it. We topped the tree with a marquee star, and I handmade our felt advent calendar. Gosh I love Christmas.

how we wore it // plaid tidings

2015-12-09T11:24:00.001-07:00

Here's how I wore this month's outfit, inspired by Because Shanna Said So. (Every month we collaborate and do a "how I would wear it" fashion inspiration post, in case cha didn't know. )

I love doing these because it's seriously outside of my comfort zone haha but here we are.

aaaaand I don't have anything else to say.

If you want to join in next month, sign up at Brooke's blog!

& don't forget to check out these other lovely ladies sharing their holiday style.

peace out.

Brooke at Silver Lining

Robin at Penn & Quill

Aubrey at Aubrey Zaruba

Maren at Maren and Co

Brielle at Breezy and Co

Eden at We Are Worth Saving

Bekah at These Are The Days

Tayler at The Morrell Tale

Jessica at Mason Jars and Lemon Bars

Sharlee at My New Lines

Berkley at Berkley Anne

Jennifer at The Pepper Express

Alexa at He and I

Hannah at Hannah Rae

Rachel at Rachel Sayumi

Hannah at My Life as a Baseball Bride

Amy at Harris Inc.

Brooklyn at Brooklyn Jolley

Charlene at From Bisons to Buckeyes

Justine at Little Dove Creations

Jennifer at Jennifer Sikora

Paige at The Happy Flammily

Bonnie at The Life of Bon

Sarah at My For Real Life

Kyla at FordOlogy

Riley at Riley Jo Blog

Shelbie at R+S Brereton

Megan at Diary of This Girl

Sierra at Sierra's View

Emma at Ever Emma

Danica at Danikan Skywalker

Deidre at Deidre Emme

merry christmas!

2015-12-08T08:38:00.002-07:00

Hammer Christmas Gram from Kalynn Petersen on Vimeo.

my friend Kalynn hung out with us while we decorated our tree and made this cute Christmas Gram for us. (get a hold of her to do your own! she's fantastic!)

Merry Christmas everyone!

(p.s. if you want to send me a Christmas card, please do!)

a magical start to our christmas

2015-12-03T22:08:00.001-07:00

+ nick carrying our Christmas tree home from the market by our house

+ setting up the tree with the company of my friend Kalynn who's doing a special project i can't wait to share!

+ coming home from Thanksgiving to a house that was 45* and freezing. we set up the tree, cranked up the heater and found all the blankets we could to make a fort on top of the vent while we watched it snow.

+ my advent calendar my mom and sister did with me over Thanksgiving.

+ hanging out in bed with a "post immunizations" feverish baby who doesn't want to do anything but watch Lightning McQueen and won't eat anything but pretzels and chocolate. (I feel you buddy, I feel you.)

+ spending Wednesday evening at the opening party for salt and honey market that's this weekend and next. go check it out! seriously I've never seen a prettier creative market. go NOW! I'll be there tonight and tomorrow, so come say hi!

+ Pantone announcing the colors of the year 2016 —I'm in LOVE with the pink! not so much the blue, but the pink I'm on board with 110%. and the name? Rose Quartz? Kill me dead. I mean I'm a big fan of pink. With Apple's rose gold iPhone being a huge hit this year, you could say we all saw it coming. But I always do a little happy dance when pink is selected as a color of the year.

+ my house smelling like fresh pine and B&BW Twisted Peppermint. I'm convinced that's what the holidays are supposed to smell like.

Thanksgiving Tradition Flog

2015-12-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

welcome to the traditions flog challenge!

I had so many high hopes for my video this time around. I even borrowed my sister's selfie stick for some epic drone shots, but what I didn't know is that the microphone doesn't work when you're using a selfie stick :( so all that wicked audio I captured is ... gone.

so enjoy the music/image montage that was our Thanksgiving party this year, and just imagine the witty remarks and commentary I provide. I sure do love that family of mine ;)

Best guess at what I'm saying wins a little treat!

The linkup will be open for a week, so don't worry if you don't have your video done yet. Absolutely still do it! (or even if you weren't planning on it, here's your chance to join in something AWESOME.)

An InLinkz Link-up

some family pictures!

2015-11-25T11:07:00.002-07:00

I hope you guys are having a freakin fantastic start to the holiday break!

we just got our family pictures back from sam and I'm so excited to share them all! But a little at a time, amiright? we'll see ;)

my friend and I are working on something super exciting for the holiday season, and it includes hand lettered goodies for Christmas. I'm STOKED.

our plans for the break include hanging out at my parents' house and doing NOTHING. it's going to be perfect.and hey, while you're at it, film some of that holiday magic for the flog challenge due in a week!

some fun things going on that you might have missed but probably should know about:

- win a pair of glasses in the last post (who doesn't love free stuff?)
- need a thanksgiving decoration? download this quote printable and bring it to your celebration!
- i want to have an ugly sweater kareoke dance party with my friends this season. would YOU want to come?

have a happy thanksgiving!

pair of glasses giveaway! [closed]

2015-11-23T12:11:00.003-07:00

alright alright alright!

happy turkey week!

in honor of this wonderful holiday, I'd like to thank you for being so awesome by giving one lucky winner a free pair of glasses courtesy of Firmoo!

Firmoo is a site that has inexpensive, good looking, want-to-wear-in-fashion-posts glasses. (I talked about them and my experience here.)

The winner will win a pair of glasses from Firmoo's blogger line with free shipping to the US.

Enter using the Rafflecopter below + be sure to visit the site and tell me which pair you'd pick if you won!

The giveaway ends in a week at Midnight MDT on November 30th and I'll contact the winner directly. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Glasses include the frames, standard 1.50 index single vision lenses. Upgraded lenses and add-ons will be charged for an extra fee. :)

join the FLOG challenge!

2015-11-16T11:26:00.001-07:00

I'm so excited to be hosting this month's FLOG challenge!

to recap, this started when Leah did a "four vlog" challenge (flog) and we had to post on a certain topic every week for 4 weeks.

I technically didn't finish the contest because I forgot to do the last video (oops.) but here are my weeks 1, 2, and 3. It's so fun to see what other people do and how other people interpret the prompts and it's EVEN MORE FUN TO GET INVOLVED!

Instead of doing four vlogs, we're keeping it to one per month. so, without further ado, this month's topic is:

TRADITION.

What are some things you have/do/see that is a tradition? Are you starting a new tradition this year? It is a family thing? Friends? Holiday themed? Season finale party? Whatever!

Your job now is to do your own vlog/video blog post about the subject. I could give you some ideas on what to do, but that would take all the fun out of it don't ya think? The flog will go live on this blog on December 1st at 8 am Utah time, and I'll have a link-up on my post for you to add your link to.

Good luck and have fun! I'm anxious to see everybody's videos!

monkey hats and yellow leaves

2015-11-10T10:33:00.002-07:00

We have this beautiful collection of yellow leaves from the maple and aspen trees above our garage.. which also happens to be right above the trash cans.

That doesn't stop him from running head first into the pile, and I'm okay with it!

He's always handing me things he finds on the ground (leaves, flowers, grass blades) and I'd be lying if I said I never took them inside with us and pressed them in some books.

It's currently snaining (sleeting?) half snow-half raining outside, so we'll totally be inside sipping cocoa and making cookies for the rest of the day.

a free printable!

2015-11-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

In an effort to share what I believe & share more of my work, here's a free 8"x10" printable for this month's festivities!

You can pick either (or both!)

Print them, take them to people, give it to your mom for a Thanksgiving gift? Whatever!

When you do, and you happen to post it somewhere, make sure to mention where you got it ;) because sharing is caring.

TOP PRINTABLE
BOTTOM PRINTABLE

Have a super day!

fall in our neighborhood

2015-11-04T11:04:00.000-07:00

our neighborhood is so gorgeous right now. it's like stepping into a stars-hollow-ish town where every house is adorable and all the tree-lined streets give it a romantic sort of feeling, crunchy leaves on every path, complete with old style churches and houses that i feel inclined to stroll past on our daily walks (ahem, that white house up there with the skeleton on the swing? it's perfect. literally perfect.)

I thought a lot about how this fall would be -- Nick's first semester in grad school. for a long time it was a "Pennsylvania fall" complete with the gorgeous colors that come with that area. last year amidst our decisions we thought we'd spend the fall in Brooklyn, taking in the sights at Central Park & trying really hard to keep warm while we explored the city, and spending Halloween in the boroughs.

In a way, it still sort of turned out how we imagined it would. We live in a beautiful house that's everything we need right now. My favorite part is the front porch, something I've only ever dreamed about! I'm so glad fall is still in full swing so I have a little more time to ooh and ahh at all my favorite parts of the season.

Like, I'm totally not that kind of person who listens to Christmas music or puts up any decorations or the tree as soon as Halloween is over. No no, I wait until after Thanksgiving. In my home growing up my mom always played Christmas music the morning of the first snowfall, but after that we had to wait until after Thanksgiving for any yule tide tunes. I abide by those rules to this day!

Classic traditions or nothing!

hallow's eve!

2015-11-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

this year we spent halloween with our friends eating mummy hotdogs, making evil graham cracker houses, and carving pumpkins.

Beckham likes to try to blow out all the candles or touch the fire instead of enjoying the pumpkin splendor. Oh, and SOCKS WITH SANDALS. I'm turning into my dad!

p.s. do you recognize Nick's pumpkin? spooky scary!

we had an "Operation get Beckham Walking Before Halloween" this past month, and it was almost a success. He can totally walk on his own (even though he didn't want to because walking up to doors is scary, I understand) but we tried getting him to trick-or-treat, and he almost did! his favorite part was the candy, and like a good mom I let him eat a whole fun-size kitkat by himself (pat on the back.)

I may have let him have some candy with his breakfast this morning too (oops) but what am I supposed to do? be a "good mom" and give him a "healthy breakfast" after halloween? come on. that's not the spirit of the season!

also, this halloween marked the 6 year anniversary of OUR FIRST DATE.

also, also, I'm not super excited about taking my bats down in the living room... but creepy flying things just don't seem to go with November, you feel?

pumpkin lettering

2015-10-31T13:16:00.002-06:00

for the Salt Lake's Lettering Club event this month we all painted on pumpkins.

I couldn't go to the actual event because my child was having one of his days, so we had our friends come and do pumpkins with us.

Chelsea even did some lettering with pumpkin guts (see it here!)

Can I just say how much I love fall?

Okay. White girl out.

neighborhood halloween carnival

2015-10-31T13:13:00.002-06:00

the park by our house has an annual halloween carnival every year, and by golly we took full advantage of it!

free doughnuts, pumpkins, apple cider. food trucks. blow up slides. face painting. doughnuts on a string. pumpkin patch and DJ. it was so cute!

our costumes this year are BIG CATS, and we love it. (we were the only adults that dressed up, but we didn't mind one bit.)

Beckham is SO CLOSE TO WALKING on his own! We practice all day every day, and we're so so excited! I'm going to have him trick-or-treat to our bishop's house (across the street) today, and it's going to be so freaking adorable.

pumpkin picking

2015-10-31T13:07:00.003-06:00

we were so stoked to take beckham to his first REAL pumpkin patch this year! (last year's pumpkin patch was his technical first, but he doesn't remember it)

there was this cute little family pumpkin patch in American Fork up next to the Timpanogos Temple with piggies, horses, and lots of pumpkins. and it was free to go! We opted out of taking Beckham to a place with lots of kids because he's not quite independent enough to play on his own. BUT he is independent enough to pick out his own pumpkin!

so we picked our pumpkins with my sister meg and her husband jordan, then went to Arctic Circle for dinner and pumpkin shakes. IMHO, there's really nothing better than pumpkins and pumpkin shakes, amirite?

how we wore it // fall something

2015-09-30T02:39:00.001-06:00

Once upon a time I can't wait for it to be fall, the end.

I'm so SO ready for boots and leggings and leaves and pumpkins and comfort food and eating all the pie and it being cold but not snowy. I can't wait to stop SHAVING MY LEGS.

But the end of summer had one last outfit left in me. and this would be it.

Thanks to BROOKE it's time again for how we wore it. Our outfit's inspiration this month is from Life with Emily and I literally don't own anything with color except for accents (shoes, bags, lipstick.) So my inspiration came from the neutrals and pop of color.

Take a look at what the other lovely ladies did down below, and go sign up for next month's post!

Brooke at Silver Lining

Robin at Penn and Quill

Kyla at FordOlogy

Bekah at These are the Days

Sierra at Sierra's View

Sharlee at My New Lines

Aubrey at Aubrey Zaruba

Jennifer at The Pepper Express

Amy at Harris, Inc.

Ashley at Absolutely Ashley

Berkley at Berkley Anne

Riley at Riley Jo

Tayler at The Morrell Tale

Jacqui at Drink the Day

Stephanie at The Artist + The Architect

Tori at The Doing Things Blog

Ashley at Practically Imperfect

Maren at Mark and Maren

Brooklyn at Brooklyn Jolley

Sarah at My For Real Life

Kallie at Life Through a Lens

Madison at Madison Custer

Amy at Lamb and Ivy

Alicia at Snowstorm

Shelby at R + S Brereton

Alexa at He and I

Have a GREAT last day of September.

We all know where I'm going to be.

birthday donuts!

2015-09-14T11:13:00.001-06:00

I turned 23 yesterday, and Nick spoiled me (as he does). but really I just wanted to show off these AWESOME LETTER DONUTS. They're from the Provo Bakery and I've alllllways wanted some and I was SO HAPPY.

SO. HAPPY.

I think donuts that spell your name actually taste better, too!

+ + +

How we wore it // summer cooool

2015-08-26T07:00:00.000-06:00

So I don't wear shorts. Probably because I don't own any, but I really don't wear them. Hence: jeans!

Jeans and dresses. every day.

This outfit was inspired by Gal meets Glam's fringey outfit & I gave it my own "summer vibey" out-running-errands and trying-to-transition-to-fall-feeling.

I'm in love with sandals that look like they could play on the beach allll day + big brimmed hats + oversized linen shirts + big totes + I really wish I had a big fancy photographer to follow me around as I look casually flawless in front of painted concrete walls.

A whole lot of us joined in for this month's "take on an outfit" over on Brooke's blog! She's cool.
(do you want to sign up and do it with us? Pay her a visit to find out how!)

Plus check out all these lovely ladies and how they dress summer cool, meanwhile I am off to the pediatrician for Beckham's 1 year appointment (WHAT) and to photograph the wedding of a Jennifer Lawrence look-alike:

Brooke at Silver Lining

Deidre at Deidre Emme

Jana at Bouvardian

Alexa at He and I

Aubrey at Aubrey Zaruba

Brooklyn at A Little Too Jolley

Ashley at Absolutely Ashley

Danica at Danakin Skywalker

Rachel at Rachel Sayumi

Sharlee at My New Lines

Emma at Ever Emma

Stephanie at The Artist + The Architect

Kyla at FordOlogy

Kalyn at Geez Louise

Kallie at Life Through a Lens

Tayler at The Morrell Tale

Jessica at My Peanut Butter Problem

Bonnie at Life of Bon

Jupe du Jour and a GIVEAWAY! [closed]

2015-08-13T10:31:00.000-06:00

Have you guys heard of Jupe du Jour?

It's like Stitch Fix, but it's for people who like to spend a little less to get a little more! Who doesn't love vintage goods, and shipped right to your door??

It's like thrifting without having to smell like old people. (I kid, kind of.)

And don't you just die over the baby box option?? Like is that not the perfect shower gift?

Anyways, they're graciously giving away a box (valued up to $35) away to one of YOU! Just head over to my Instagram to find out how to enter. And trust me, you won't be sorry!

laundry day stop motion

2015-08-05T23:15:00.003-06:00

I did some more flogging this week.

Here we are at week 3 of the challenge, and the subject is: routines.

I was seriously debating skipping this week because, to be quite honest, I had zero inspiration about what to do. That is until I was doing my laundry this morning! (and who doesn't glean inspiration from their daily chores?) I had an idea and BAM, a few hours later here we are. (and when I say a few hours I mean in between no naps for Beckham today and no help because Nick was asleep all day because he was up all night finishing his last project for the semester, woohoo!)

So I guess I kind of cheated because it's not really a vlog, oops. Oh well!

Do you have that one sock every time that magically doesn't have a partner? Because SAME.

new glasses!

2015-07-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

Nerd glasses for the WINNNN.

Firmoo contacted me awhile ago to do a review on their glasses. (thank you!)

Here's the catch: I get to be 100% honest with you about the whole experience. (and who doesn't need new glasses?)

They actually have a really great selection. They also have new glasses that they add to the site every day, and if you follow them on Twitter they post the new ones there, too, so you can be lazy and informed at the same time.

I picked these ones in tortoise shell because I actually don't own any tortoise shell things. That's so unblogger-ish of me.

Anyways. So I ordered them and it was super easy. The only thing I had trouble with was figuring out the size of my PD, or the distance between my pupils. (they use this measurement to make sure the prescription is right in the glass.) I just used a measuring tape thingy and measured the best I could. Other than that, it was a breeze.

(p.s. their customer service is good too. They're super nice and will help you with whatever you need!)

Shipping was relatively quick too, considering it was coming all the way from China.

I got the glasses and they came in a cute case that included a little screwdriver and cloth to clean the lenses with. (I set them aside for 2 seconds and they've disappeared.)

They're nice glasses for being so inexpensive. These ones are made of a light plastic. I have a small head (let's be real here) so the glasses are a bit big on my face. But that's okay! I use them around the house or after I've been on the computer for too long. They get dirty really quick (babies, man) but that's what the cloth is for. If I can find it.

So that's that! If you're in the business of needing new glasses, check them out. You can even get 15% off your first order. And if you catch it, they're always having great sales.

How to Create Food Typography

2015-07-29T00:44:00.002-06:00

For week 2 of the Flog challenge, I'm sharing my video on how to create food typography. My medium is licorice, but yours could be pineapples, doughnuts, sprinkles, peanut butter, honey, you get it.

It's not as intimidating at it seems. And obviously you should take a lot longer to sketch and create the work, not work haphazardly like I did for the video.

Some of my favorite designers who do food lettering/typography:

Marmalade Bleue (Danielle)
Becca Clason
Hello Tosha

You can check out my other food typography projects over on my website.

Isn't this stuff cool? I should probably definitely do some more (+ you should probably try it!)