Giving Thanks

This weekend was great….very hectic, way too short and great! It started on Thursday morning with us packing our stuff into a very large enterprise van and driving up to New Jersey for my family’s thanksgiving feast.  My family does thanksgiving like nobody else I know.  Every year my mom’s side of the family gets together for an epic celebration.  75 family members (aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins and now third cousins!) all get together and feast! There is a list of what each family will bring (I was in charge of sternos, 2 desserts, and enough lettuce for 75 sandwiches) and a hall is rented.  We have had thanksgiving in the same hall for the past 5 years or so…it’s the basement of a church in a sleepy NJ town. Folding tables line each side of the room and are filled with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry, and everything else you can imagine you’d want for your thanksgiving dinner.  Then there is the dessert table.  About 50 desserts to choose from! I think I had about 4 different types of pie!

It’s such a great time…being able to see all of those people, seeing the kids grow, seeing my young cousins getting engaged, married, having children of their own.  And seeing my aunts and uncles…knowing these are precious moments that we get to spend together now that I’ve moved away from NJ and now with my father moving down to South Carolina in a few short months.  The fact that we all still get together for this event every year – that this has been going on since before I was born…is amazing.  It’s so great that we can all get together and get along and spend this time together.

This thanksgiving was especially wonderful because my sisters had something up their sleeves that I was unaware of.  Right after I finished up dessert I was sitting at a table with my Aunt chit chatting when all of a sudden my sister came up behind me waving a pink ribbon over my head yelling for everyone’s attention.  It took a few minutes for me to realize what was going on – my sisters had planned a surprise baby shower for me in the middle of thanksgiving dinner! Sean didn’t know either – we were both shocked! I turned bright red, turned around and saw that they had set up two chairs, pink decorations, and there were a pile of presents sitting there.  I had my back turned talking to my Aunt while they were decorating and had no clue this was happening behind us!

So over we went, and opened presents and got to ooh and aah over all the adorable little girlie things that my wonderful family gave to us.  It was hard to absorb what was even going on…it was such a treat! To be able to celebrate our little girl coming into our lives with all of this family around us was amazing. It was almost like my mom was there with us…it was really special.

I know I said I wasn’t a fan of surprises…but if this is what it’s like to be surprised, well maybe I had it all wrong.  My sisters did an amazing job and surprised the crap out of us…and I couldn’t be more thankful for them or that moment.

A big ol' pain in the a$$

I hate to complain...well that's not true, I'm actually pretty darn good at complaining. But I feel bad complaining about the problems of being pregnant when I'm so very happy that I am pregnant.  Let me just say though, that I had no idea it would be such a pain in my ass.  Literally.

My sciatic nerve is killing my will to live.  I have pain from the back of my right knee all the way up to my tailbone.  Sitting at my desk has become something close to torture.  Walking for too long makes me feel like my tailbone is going to just rip off and fall to the ground.  The only time I'm comfortable is when I'm laying down - either the couch or the bed.  Unfortunately the won't allow a chaise or couch next to my desk.

I am now wearing what can only be compared to as a heavy lifter belt. 




this is NOT me....


It's actually supposed to support my belly and lift it up a bit to take pressure of my spine.  It's helping ever so slightly.  It mostly helps when I'm standing or walking - but the sitting is still pretty unbearable.  I am sitting on a pillow at my desk but my fat ass has already mushed that thing to a pancake so it's no longer giving support.

I have been getting back rubs from the hubby at night and using a heating pad.  These are both wonderful things - I just wish I could figure out how to make the 8 hours at work more bearable.  At this point I just want to cry and lay down on the floor to get relief from this pain in my ass.  I can't believe I have another 4 months of this pain.  It is definitely not as bad as morning sickness...but it is a close second.

Sorry for my bitch session...I'm just having a pity party....table for one.

Hot n' Tasty

I don't know about you all...but I need to get me a pair of these here waffle pants.  They combine my 2 favorite things....pants and breakfast!

mmmm tasty pantaloons

image via The Gloss

Nesting

The nesting has begun.  I have started thinking and dreaming about how I want our little girl’s nursery to look.  It is pretty funny….she is still months away but I am obsessed with getting everything ready now.  I guess it’s good to do it before I get huge and can’t move around like I can now.

So…I started with looking for furniture.  I wanted to get a few pieces for her room – like a dresser, changing table, and things of that nature.  I started my quest by looking in the typical places.  Target, Ikea, Babies R Us….but nothing caught my eye.  Then I looked at Land of Nod and Crate and Barrel…and holy crap that stuff is ridiculously expensive! Scratch that.  So then I decided to do a quick peek on craigslist.  And the stars aligned….and I found this!

A solid wood bedroom set from the 1950s. These pieces were a lady’s great grandmother’s furniture. Beautiful curved details, perfectly working drawers, and solid! And the best part?  We got the entire set for $50!!! I mean is that a steal or what?

So obviously our daughter won’t need a makeup vanity or headboard for a while – but the 2 dressers and cabinet are perfect.  We’ll just keep the other pieces in storage until it’s time for her to transition to them. The taller dresser is the perfect height to put a changing pad on top and the other one sits a bit lower.  The cabinet is perfect to store extra blankets and diapers. Horray!

So a minor setback was when our friends freaked us out by saying it could have lead paint on there since the furniture is so old.  We made a trip to Home Depot to pick up a lead paint test and thankfully it came back negative! YAY!!

The stuff was painted an off white with yellow streaked paint.  It had a few places where the paint was chipped so we decided to paint it white.  (Well I decided and Sean had to paint it…hey, I’m not allowed to). So this past weekend Sean went to work.  He did a light sanding and used spray paint. 

He's such a good sport...and handsome too!

While he was busy painting, I was busy shopping! I went to Anthropologie and bought the most beautiful knobs for the cabinet doors. I am in love!!

1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint and it’s all done! He did such a great job and I can’t wait to get it in the room! I promise to share pics once we have everything in place! YAY!!

IT'S A GIRL!

I am so excited to finally be able to tell everyone that it is a girl! We went and had our follow up ultrasound today and she was in a good position this time to get all the images they needed.  Everything looks great and she is dancing all around in there.  And they were able to see for sure that it's a girl! Now I can finally start really thinking about the nursery and names and all the sugar and spice and everything nice that comes with little girls! I can not wait to meet her!!!

Horray!!

I am so super duper excited! Ever since I got pregnant, my jewelry making has come to a grinding halt.  First I felt too sick to sit in my little craft nook and work, and then it was just too darn hot in that front bedroom to sit for any length of time.  Then there was the whole issue of nothing selling on the etsy shop for months.  All of these things kind of zapped my creative energy.  However…

I have sold 3 pieces in the past week! I am so excited! Two necklaces and a pair of earrings! To 2 different people! This is making me feel that my stuff is worth selling…worth putting out there to the etsy consumers.  I hope that people like my stuff, but it’s scary to put your jewelry out on the market after you’ve created from the heart. I feel like Sally Field – “They like me…they REALLY like me!”  Ok, yes I’m a total nerd…but this is a huge boost of confidence for me.

And now I have a renewed energy to get back into my little craft nook and create some fun and sweet pieces to add to the shop.  Stay tuned!

Joies - Simple & Sweet Jewelry