3...2....1.....!!!!!

Hey there! Just a quick thought that just came to my mind about my blog and the infrequency I've been posting since coming home from France: It's all about quality, not quantity, right?. Whew, that makes me feel better! Wow, I almost cannot believe that I haven't seen Yann since June 5th. That's the longest we've gone wthout seeing eachother since we've met. We've done the two months apart thing twice but this is just craziness. So, in 3 days, on Sept 1st my French knight in shining armor will come riding into my driveway, in a cheap rental car, to sweep me off my feet. Oh, wait he won't be able to lift my 8 month pregnant butt very far off the ground. Oh well, that's the image I have floating around in my head right now! It's kind of fun, this whole not seeing your husband for a long time thing. I mean, it's like, what will his hair be like, will he have grown a beard? Will he look like a wild seafaring mate from Newcastle, England? (I say that because he has been aboard his ship there in the port for the last 3 weeks working.) Poor guy would call me from work and tell me he hadn't been able to have a shower on his ship for 3 days because they had run out of hot water. Wow, the sailor life is not for me.


So, when he gets here hopefully we can lay around and just do a bunch of nothin'. Such as, movie watching, hand holding, baby name thinking, cooking, and lots of talking!! The last, being something that I miss probably the most right now. We can talk on the phone for about 20 minutes and then we both get distracted and go kind of ADD on eachother. But when you're face to face it's harder for that to happen.

So, is it crazy that I planned my baby shower on the same day as my 10 year high school reunion?! Because I'm beginning to think that was a little much for one day. But i did it that way, because it's on Labor Day weekend and I knew a few very good friends would be in town already for the reunion. So, I'm kind of trying to kill a couple birds with one (busy) stone, you know? Well, I bought a dress for the baby shower and because it was not on sale I tried to think if it will still fit me and look good after the baby is born. I think it will. Then the dress I'm wearing to the reunion is a little black number from my pre-baby belly days and amazingly enough it still fits, just a bit tighter. It's made out of a black stretchy material; that's my saving grace.


The day before my shower my great and talented friend Abby from Liga Photography is giving me such a fun gift. The gift of a Mommy Glam session. Can you guess what that's all about? Basically, it's a photo shoot where you get all dressed up and done up like the hot momma you are and she takes studio pics of you. And she makes the moms-to-be look so cute, like pregnant super models. :) Can't wait to post those pics for you on here!


Here is a watercolor painting that I did over the last several days. I've never done any paintings like this. But the baby's nursery, that is yet to exist, may need some wall art someday. And since greens seem to be emerging as the color for her room, I went with a green background. I wanted to incorporate some patterns from fabric, since that's the medium I've been the most obsessed with lately. So, I added in some paisley patterning because on her crib bedding there is paisley. I think I will do 2 more smaller ones to compliment this one. What do you think about it- Do I have a future as a watercolorist?



And a detail shot:




Here is a picture of what I call my Friday Night Apron. I had this material for about a year and I kept meaning to make a sexy, retro apron out of it. So, finally! I love that it's reversible so that on one side you have more blues and greens and then on the other you have your girlie pinks. I just got my custom labels mailed to me, so I think I wil make a few of these and put them up in the esty shop, that is sitting empty and unopened right now! Please notice that little adorable pocket (that is fully lined, people!) with the rickrack.






Next item up:

The Swing Bag, finished yesterday and I'm in love! Umm, how darling is this fabric combo? That fabric was just in at my local sewing/quilting shop. I think it makes for a great tote bag and I made it reinforced with a thick layer of canvas in between the lining fabric and the outer fabric; I just like the feel of a sturdier bag. The sash bow you can leave on or untie and even use as a belt or scarf. Today, I cleaned up my sewing room (aka: my mom's dining room) and stored all my supplies because with Yann coming and the baby shower here at the house, I needed to clean up my crafting junk. With all these projects, I think I got out most of my crafting urges for at least a week or two.





Check out the lining material. It's actually reversible too, but I just love the outside fabric so much, I don't think I'll ever reverse it!



And a final parting shot:

My dog sleeping on my bed as I sit here and write a blog post. I love him. I really, really love him.

growing every day...

Well, here I am in all my big bellied glory. I'm definitely getting bigger, because I've been keeping track of my weight gain and the number on the scale is slowly rising. In fact, it's a little shocking to see a number on there I've never seen before! But it's all good! I'm feeling pretty good too. Into the 3rd trimester and I've begun my childbirth education classes, which are quite interesting and I'm learning tons. The more I learn about natural childbirth, the more it makes so much sense to me, if a pregnancy is not complicated. Which, thank God, mine seems not to be complicated. I'm so looking forward to doing this thing drug free and fully aware of the 'sensations' my body is going to go through. It will definitely be a test of my pain tolerance! Things are just ticking along and Yann arrives here in 13 days!! Yes, I will be one happy girl when I see him pull into the driveway to give me a big hug. That is if he recognizes me!




I made my diaper bag finally. The sewing pattern was crazy complicated for me, so I was invited into my local sewing shop, that I LOVE, and they helped me out, like they always do. It's amazing how much they will help you for free; well, after you purchase a big, expensive Baby Lock machine! I am going to take another bag class pretty soon and we are going to make an Amy Butler pattern. So, here is my diaper bag below, and a close up of the fabric. I wanted something not too loud or 'pink'.






Here are some more market bags I've made recently. I found a great web site that sells adorable patterns of oilcloth fabric for reasonable prices. I though these would be more sturdy than the fabric market totes, and if they get wet from a grocery spill, I can just wipe them off. I got these really cool prints in orange and red and then below I have the other print, vintage strawberries!






Also, I'm excited that I have a new little project going on. When I arrived in Marseille, France, I knew no one besides my hubby and his few guy friends. I had to reach out to make new friends and through the magic of the internet I found an awesome ex-pat/English speaking group of people on the web site Meetup.com. I went to my first Meetup within the first week of being in France and the people I connected with in that group remained my very close friends while I was in France. I still keep in touch with them and I consider a couple of them to be lifelong friends.

So, when I moved back here to my hometown, I had friends and family here, but I didn't have any friends that had young babies or children. So, I looked on Meetup.com and joined a group called Hip Mamas. I hadn't even attended any of their playgroups yet, because it may be weird to show up pregnant and childless! But anyway, last week I got an email from the group organizer who said she was moving and this group needed a new organizer to set up Meetups. So, I decided to take over the group, or else it would have shut down. I'm really excited about it and there are 40 moms in the group, with children from infant to 5 years old. I have already set up some meetups for the rest of August, including story time at the public library and a classical lullaby concert, where a narrator reads story, while a quartet of musicians plays along to the story line in the background. How cool does that sound? So, I am really excited about meeting new young moms, like I will be in jut a few months. It feels really good to reach out to this whole new group of people, who are potential great friends. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. ok, then, for now bye!

26 days!

26 days. That is how many more days I have to wait until I see my husband, Yann. When he comes here on September 1st, it will have been 3 long long months since I've seen him. Let me tell you, I am over this long distance husband thing! Especially being 7 months pregnant, it makes it all the more difficult. I won't have seen him for a whole trimester so I am hoping to shock him (in a good way) when he sees me, with my big belly, which is growing slowly. So, I'm hoping for selfish reasons that August goes by quickly so I can be reunited with my baby's daddy!

And I guess I haven't been so motivated to write on the blog because I feel like I am in this general holding pattern of 'waiting'. Waiting for Yann, for the baby, and to figure out where we should live. I have the following little problem in the back of my head: We are seriously thinking about buying a house here in Sarasota, because the prices are pretty good right now with the market. However, many people are saying that real estate has hit the 'bottom' and the house prices are about to begin to rise again. So, now would be a good time, however, the one we want is on a short sale. I thought a short sale was about the same as a foreclosure, but they are 2 different things and the short sale is the bigger headache to deal with. Sometimes you can put an offer in and have to wait up to 6 weeks to hear back an answer from the bank. Then, sometimes they won't answer at all, if the offer is too low. So, we will see what happens on this one. An investor group came in and bid higher than us, so we just have to wait and see. If we did get the house, it would be an amazing deal.

So, if we don't get the house, we really need to find a rental house or apartment. But we want to be able to rent month-to- month, so that if we do make an offer on a house and it gets accepted, we will be able to get out of an apartment lease. It is so hard to find just a month-to-month lease though! And a furnished one at that, which would be the best. All my stuff is still up in NC in storage.

I feel like I can do nothing about all this now, but as soon as Yann comes, and the baby is almost here, things will get crazy for us very quickly if we have no place to call home! Let's just call this, "the calm before the storm!"

But I am a patient person and can wait. In the mean time, today I sewed a baby sling/wrap thingy. I saw on a web site a wrap called the Sleepy Wrap and it cost about $38.00 plus shipping. Well, I googled the measurements of it and saw that others had recreated it. So, I went to the fabric store and bought 20 dollars worth of nice stretch jersey fabric and made 2! So, for $10 dollars I made this thing and it was 'sew' easy. I am going to give one to my good friend Nan, http://www.ecoculinaire.blogspot.com/ who is preggie now with her second.

We are in the hot, sticky summer doledrums of August here. We were up in Cashiers, NC the other week for my dad's 60th birthday and my 28th. It was so nice to actually feel chilled in the evenings. I love wearing a sweater out to dinner in late July. Thank god for places of refuge from the Florida heat! We had such a great time and my aunts and grandma came out from California to celebrate with us. I also had the chance to go into Asheville a couple times and visit some friends who I hadn't seen for a very long time. I also peeked over the fence at my old house that we sold a year ago. Wow, the current owner is seriously lacking in curb appeal! Basically, we had that house in amazing shape when we sold it and now it looks like a redneck paradise! Oh well for them.

I had a good midwife's appointment yesterday too. All looks pretty good with the little bundle. She is measuring just a little bit smaller than the average for 27 weeks, however I think she just may be a small girl and I think it's ok. But I re-doubled my efforts to chug some whole organic milk everyday and eats lots of good foods, as much as I please! It's going to be hard to go back to 1% milk after she is born. I received a check list of supplies I need to begin to gather for the home birth. So, that is exciting and the midwife will come to our home for our 36 week appointment to make sure she knows exactly where we live and to check out the place. (The 'place' being my parents house. How nice are they to let me use it? Their bathroom is huge and has an amazing large tub, which may come in handy during the whole process!)

ok, well, hope to be back sooner rather than later and have something else of interest for ya!

summer days

Excuse my mini absence from the blog world...nothing too terribly exciting has been going on lately, so I didn't want to bore my readers! :) I'm a lady in waiting anyways; waiting for Yann to come here in September, waiting to meet the baby girl I'm working on growing...

So, one thing I have been pretty prolific in is making stuff. Below you will see something I am very excited about: my first little quilt! yea! I have been wanting to learn how to quilt for so long and finally I made it happen by signing up for a class at this amazing local sewing shop. I'm the youngest customer who is into the quilting classes, but I love hanging out with all those cool, old quilter ladies. They remind me of my grandma out in California; they have so much great knowledge of crafting and hand making all kinds of things. My first quilt is not perfect, but I learned the technique anyways and it will be cute for the baby.

Also, I had this adorable fabric for a while and I decided to make a little dress and bloomers for the babe. I actually really like how it turned out and I want to make a few others in different variations. It took a while because I was figuring out how to use my new sewing machine, but after this project I am in love with my machine! It works so well and never causes any trouble...knock on wood!

Also, for those far away that requested some recent pics of me and my growin' belly here they are below. I am about 24 weeks now so I had my mom snap a few pictures in the backyard. I just bought that tank top at Express when I was visiting my good friend, Abby in Orlando. It's not meant to be a maternity shirt, but it does accommodate the bulge quite well, with the side gathering.

Anyway, I am off to North Carolina on Wednesday with the fam for a couple weeks. I will be up there celebrating my b-day and my father's 60th B-day. My aunts and grandma are coming all the way from California and I am so excited to see them!
So, to all my Asheville peeps...call me and let's hang out!

Little projects

So, I have a new baby that I didn't mention before and it's my new Baby Lock sewing machine. Yann got it for me a few months ago for our one year wedding anniversary. We bought it at this really amazing local sewing shop because to buy the same caliber machine in France would have been outrageously expensive. So, I shlepped the new machine back to France with me a few months ago, when I was visiting home. And at every single security check at the airport from here to there, I had to explain what it was and take it fully out of the bag to run it through the x-ray machines. So, let's just say, it was an annoying thing to drag across an ocean. I set it up in our apartment in France, ready to make my first stitches on a little curtain project I was going to do. I plugged it in and was so excited to try it out. I turned it on, the computer on it beeped, made a weird noise, then to my horror, went completely dead. Dead! My new machine, costing a small fortune for us, and never having been used!! Ahhh! I burst into emotional, pregnancy sobs for a half hour on the couch...poor Yann felt so bad for me and was trying to fix the machine. Basically, what happened was my electrical power converter for Europe shorted out and fried the sewing machine. France has different plugs and power currents than us, so we had always used these converters just fine, but the machine was too high a voltage for it to handle.

Long story short, Baby Lock has amazing warranties and fixed it for free. I had to pay 12$ shipping, that's it! So, I just got my Baby back last week and I had about a million projects piled up in line to get sewed. So, below is a little project I just finished. I dug these vintage doll bunk beds out of our attic. They were in my mother's room as a child and they were in mine too, until I decided, as a 5 year old, that I should climb onto the top bunk and snapped the frame. Anyways, they sat broken and unloved in our hot attic, until I got them out and decided to rehab them.

They were an outdated wood color, so my dad and I sanded them and applied some wood accents on the headboards & footboards, and then painted them. I just finished up my first quilting class, so I decided to practice making a particular quilt block, by making two little quilted coverlets for the beds. Oh my; the weird projects I do when I'm not employed! But I think they turned out cute and will be a staple in our little baby girl's room until she outgrows them or breaks them, as I did! The quilt colors kind of match the crib bedding set we got for her. I can just picture her as a toddler, tucking into bed her little dolls and stuffed animals.











So, other than projects, not too much else has been going on. We went out on the boat today, and I almost had a darn heat stroke. People, have you ever experienced the type of humid, hot, brain frying heat that is South Florida in the summer? If not, count yourself very blessed. Basically, living in Florida for a summer is akin to living in Antarctica during the winter. It is just too extremely painful and uncomfortable to go outside. The advantage of a Florida summer, over an arctic winter, is that at least from your air conditioned house you can look out the window and see bright sun, and cheerful green trees. I know, I'm sounding a little over dramatic here, but maybe it's just that I lived in Asheville so long, that I became accustomed to the summers there. In North Carolina, in the summers, if you do become hot, you just head to a cold, refreshing waterfall and dunk yourself. Also, the nights are cool enough to enjoy a stroll around the block or even a campfire. You can have a nice, productive garden too, where as in Florida, your delicate organic herbs and vegetables would all wither and die under the scorching heat. It is intense and I'm just trying to stay inside as much as I can. Although, I love summer and I love to be active and do things outdoors, it just is too much for me right now. So, inside I stay, with many fun sewing projects and books to read. I've got my knitting classes, and my first sweater is coming along pretty good. I've been trying to hit the gym a few times a week too, to get physically ready to have this baby.

What to do for the 4th this year?

I think this year, I'm going to need to sit out the 4th of July festivities. I see everybody around me making their firework viewing, BBQ, and beach plans but this time around I just am not feeling like celebrating. A few contributing factors are: the fact that I can't drink ice cold American beer, it's unbearably hot here in Florida, and also I think all the loud exploding noises would freak out the baby in utero. Apparently, from the books I'm reading she can hear pretty much everything around my belly, but more diluted, like being underwater. So, I think the crazy, drunken 4th of July revelers will have to party with out my presence this year. To be honest, the holiday was never one of my favorites and I blame growing up in Florida on this. I'm more of a Christmas and Thanksgiving girl. It was just always so hot growing up in Florida in the summers, that standing outside in the swampy, steamy evening heat and lighting off firecrackers in the driveway just wasn't so enticing. Plus, this year our barbeque is out of order and so we can't even grill! That should be a crime to have a broken grill in the summer! But I think this year a friend and I are going to buck the trend of viewing fireworks over the water and head to the refuge of a cool, dark, and deserted movie theatre and then grab some dinner. But please, go out and celebrate for me! Grill, Chill and be merry!


I think it's kind of funny that we ordered our nursery furniture and I have no idea where to put it when it gets delivered in August. I have my room here packed full and my parents' basement in North Carolina filled too. Yann doesn't come until September so I'm going to hold off on getting a place until then. Therefore, we have a household full of stuff, baby and other that needs to be moved somewhere, but no place to put it all yet. Hmmm, And to top that off, I am 'nesting' like crazy. Have you experienced this for yourself ever? I would assume it's a girl thing, and especially for expecting moms. I am so wanting a place of our own, with a cute little second bedroom to create a nursery. And wait until you see this furniture and bedding I found; very adorable, but not overly girly. I am thinking about chocolate browns and greens for her room. I owned a house in Asheville for a few years and I really fell in love with decorating it and making it my own space. First, I learned so much about renovation and house projects, but after the major work was done, I was able to get in there, and pick paint colors and decorate. I was really into, (because I had to be) decorating on the major cheap. Where I was in North Carolina there were tons of little thrift stores where you could find vintage treasures galore. I think the little old ladies running these stores had no idea what some of those things were worth. There was a Humane Society thrift store in Downtown Brevard that was my little secret for the summer I worked as a ceramics teacher at a girls camp. Oh, I got so many cool things there. But I think at this point, I've collected lots of stuff, and now I just need a place for it all! Well, although I'm already more than half way through this pregnancy, I still have some more time to figure out where we will end up.



Tomorrow, my dad and I are hopefully going to finish up and photograph this cute little project we've been working on. So, check back soon and Happy 4th of July! Here is a virtual cupcake for you...

Dad's Day

Happy Father's Day! Too bad my dad has to work today, but tomorrow night we are going to celebrate both Father's Day and my parents 35th wedding anniversary by going out to eat and a movie. Can you imagine that, 35 years of marriage?! And since I'm living with the parents for the time being, I figure that I may as well crash their romantic evening too. Living with them again after such a long time of not, is weird and comforting at the same time. First, it is just temporary until my hubby arrives in about 2 months, but second is such a money saver for us at this point. We are hoping to buy a house in the not too distant future, and if I had to pay a big rent on an apartment, our saving money would be even harder. In fact, Yann is currently moving out of our apartment in Ventabren, France and he is going to move into his parents place too, in North France! We are in quite a funny situation for the next couple months, but c'est la vie!

I appreciate so much, my parents letting me stay with them. I was feeling like I was imposing on them when I first arrived in the States; after all I am married, 27 years old, and pregnant! I felt like maybe I should bite the bullet and look for an apartment until Yann got here. But after looking at some expensive, tiny places, I decided I should stick around here. It's a much better deal here at their house: I've got a cool swimming pool in the backyard, my dog can stay with no extra pet deposit, I have access to a mac-daddy kitchen with a Sub-Zero fridge and a big gas stove, monthly utilities are included, and cable and internet are abundant! What more could you want? Well, for one thing, more storage would help. I've maxed out my closet in my bedroom, and now my craft work space is creeping into the dining room. I have a growing 'rat pile' of baby things that I've slowly begun collecting. A disassembled baby swing, a stroller in a huge box, the crib bedding, some cute baby clothes I found on sale... oh my, I do look forward to getting our own place at some point soon!

Anyways, I want to give a shout out to my dad and my grandpa today! Love you guys!! My dad is seriously the greatest papa ever and I can never thank him enough for all that he has done for me. We have been through some hard times as a family, but he always pulls through for my mom and I and is our solid rock. I am so happy that I will be able to give him the greatest gift this year of becoming a grandfather. I cannot wait to see him holding his grandaughter for the first time! He will be an excellent grandpa, just like he is a father. And to my grandpa, Art, who I now get to live only one mile away from, instead of being separated by the Atlantic ocean, I am happy to be your neighbor again! I bring dinner to my grandpa, who is homebound, with my mom about every other night. It's so good to have this time with him, because I've lived far away for so many years now. He is 93 years old and still very mentally sharp; he's such a great guy and I'm so blessed he is a part of my life. So, Happy Grandfather's Day to you grandps!







Also, in crafting news, I have only one quilting class left! The four weeks went by so fast. It's crazy; when I am on a sewing machine hours can pass and it will only feel like a few minutes has gone by! The 3 hours class goes by very quickly, but I will have an adorable lap quilt for the baby finished by this Thursday. Can't wait to show you my first little quilt. I have really learned a lot of technique and about measuring & cutting fabric from my teacher. She is a major perfectionist, which is required in quitling. I am more of a 'wing it' type person, so her instruction is very good for me; she makes me rip out a lot of my seams! My sewing machine is in the shop broken, which is a whole 'notha sad story in itself, and so I have to figure out another craft to keep my hands busy. I found a great knitting for babies book and so this is my next undertaking...learn to knit, while my my sewing machine is in the shop! Knitting in Florida..why??? Well, maybe this winter will be cold here and I can find a chilly day or two to put a hand knit sweater on my sweet little baby girl.

So, today I used my mom's old Bernina machine to sew up these market tote bags. I have been going nuts with the amount of plastic bags in the United States!! In France, everyone has to bring their own bags to the grocery stores. There is no such thing as a free plastic bag! If you forgot your bags at home, you can purchase thick plastic bags at the grocery store, but then they are expensive. This forces you to keep a bunch a eco-friendly, re-useable bags in your trunk and grab them before you go into the store in France. It's such a simple, small act to bring your own bag there, but I have made a lifetime resolution to never use the plastic bags at the store. They are a nightmare to store at home and are just a nuisance overall. I made these for my mom, because she always forgets to bring her own bags and I had to do something about that!





See you later this week!