It's a Celebration, y'all!!!

S turned one yesterday. It's been quite the rollercoaster year but this particular post will focus on the party. A post will follow, hopefully sooner rather than later, about the experience of watching your baby turn one.

We decided to go with a Little Man theme for his party because we have called him "Little Man" since he was born. However, much of the "Little Man" themed party ideas that I came across were full of mustaches. Now, I think real mustaches are awesome. However, the mustache trend just irritates me, so we went buckwild with the neckties to compensate lack of 'stache.

It's no secret that I'm a Pinterest Junkie, so when I set out in planning mode, I had one goal in mind: Make this party Pinterest Worthy. Except, instead of party planning beginning six months ago like all the other smart mommies did, I waited til 3 weeks before. Oops. We're more likely to end up on Pinterest Fails. But, either way, I figure my goal is reached, amiright? So, yes, I will pin the hell out of these, and I hope you will too.

Oh, and yes...I did make that smash cake. I could totally be on Cake Boss. Or not.

Colors of the wind

As I've mentioned before, I've been on a Pinterest kick lately. I have a strong desire to change just about everything, right now. I want to redecorate my house, rebuild my wardrobe, and reorganize my cabinets. With little organizing boxes and baskets and cubes. I find myself pinning a variety of styles and colors. From the subtle and demure to the wild and brazen. In doing this, I've discovered something about myself.

I'm scared to take fashion risks. I'm scared of color. *gasp*

You would never be able to guess by my pinboards. Or, perhaps you can. I do have an impressive array of pins covering all shades of brown. But, I do have some that are funky and fresh and vibrant. A description that hardly describes my style, as much as I'd like. If you were to take a peek into my closet/laundry room, you'd find a lot of black, brown, gray, and white. There is an occasional red top but most of the colors that grace my wardrobe tend to be muted and earthy. Which is a description that very accurately describes me. I mean...even my hippie flower child skirts are drab and uninspired. That's like...the hippie antithesis.

I'm not condoning being untrue to one's self. But, I do think it's important to step out of your comfort zone on occasion. Especially if that style/color/song/etc is really speaking to you. I'd never buy something that wasn't my style just because it's "trendy". In fact, much of what is trendy doesn't hit my closet until it's on the way out. I'm perpetually uncool. I've accepted that. But, what I can't accept is being afraid to take risks on the fashion and decorating front. I mean...it's just clothes, right? It's just hair...paint...art...fill in the blank, right? Absolutely nothing is set in stone and the only true constant is change. So what am I so afraid of?

I'm inclined to think that it's some unconscious fear of attracting attention to myself, but let's be honest. Those who know me...know I'm not the least bit afraid of attention. So, what it all boils down to (my friends...is that everything is just fine, fine, fiiiiine...oh wait. Not doing Alanis Morrissette karaoke?) What it all boils down to, is that I have little confidence in my own artistic translation. Sure, I think a lot of these color and pattern combos I'm pinning are insanely cute. But, I don't think I have the ability to pull it off and I don't think I have the ability to pair things well. I mean, short of buying exactly what's in the picture, I feel I'd be a walking fashion train wreck. And, while, yes I could just buy the outfit...who wants to walk around being a carbon copy of someone else? Not I.

And, while I'm being superficially honest here... my fear of risk doesn't just translate into clothes, but jewelry as well. I love the look of a statement necklace or huge bangles or funky earrings. But, I tend to default there as well. I can walk into Charming Charlies (oh, CC, how I miss you. *tear*) and still find myself selecting typical silver hoop earrings and a delicate chain necklace. In fact, guys, I'm *just* now venturing into gold jewelry. Sick. I know. I also tend to wear my hair and makeup the same way, year after year. (Though, over the last couple of years, I have done some pretty drastic chops on my hair, so that's a start. However, I won't be cutting that much length off at all for a long long time, if ever. I loved the haircuts leaving the salon, but they were just wrong for my lifestyle. I'm not one that styles my hair every single day. These required that. )

So, how do I get over this aversion to the color wheel? Have you ever been stuck in a rut? How did you break free and reinvent yourself? Comment and discuss!

P.S...I know the title of this blog is from a song with a message that is the polar opposite of this blog post. But, those of you who may have read me back in my Myspace blogging days know that I'm a sucker for a well placed song lyric. So deal.

The Road to Hell...

...Is paved with good intentions. If that's the case, the Devil owes me some major back taxes. Guys. Not only have I not gotten myself done ONCE since Saturday...I've gotten maybe one shower in that time. S decided this would be a good week/weekend to get a virus and to do some major teething. Both of which had undesirable outcomes in the diaper department. We cloth diaper, so this means that I had a lot of extra dirty work on my hands. Which left very little time for self focus the last few days.

The awesome thing about life is that, God willing, we always have a chance to start again. Maybe...JUST maybe I can get into gear and do this thing now that S is on the upswing. Here's hoping. The thing about having kids is that they tend to call the shots when it comes to scheduling.

Meanwhile, I've fallen down the Pinterest rabbit hole again. You'll recall from previous posts...I looooove Pinterest. But, I'm more apt to have Pinterest Fails than to have things actually go as planned. But, the one thing that surely...SURELY...I can't screw up is organization. We moved out of the Kiebler Elf house a few months ago into a bigger house with a bigger yard. In our first move as actual parents, I grossly underestimated how difficult it would be to unpack and organize the house. So, in between feedings, diaper changes, and all out tantrums, I threw things in closets and attics and basements. We still have a guest room full of unpacked boxes. I hate living in transition. I've been trying to get the house clean so that I can tackle those boxes and get things organized.

In chaotic disarray, I feel chaotic and unsettled. The unfortunate part of cleaning a house that contains animals, a mobile baby, and a husband...is that I spend every single day cleaning the kitchen, living room, and main bathroom. I can't get to ANY other part of the house. And, despite doubling our square footage, once again I get the shaft on closet space. Fortunately, our basement is accessible from inside, huge, finished, and contains my washer and dryer. So, it's my makeshift closet. That being said, my laundry has piled up because I have no clothes storage!!! The plans to hang shelving and rods have been discarded so I either live out of laundry baskets or I wash and rewear what little I can fit on my one clothes rack. Yesterday, I scored a free dresser. woot!! It's now in my laundry room while I begin tackling Mount Washmore and hopefully in a few days, I'll have that room squared away.

What does this have to do with Pinterest, you ask? Because I'm drooling over organizational tips and products. And, of course paint colors and renovation projects that I clearly can't do since we rent. I can't wait to buy a house. I may need to get a Frequent Painter's card because I'll probably paint and repaint as my tastes and moods change. Which is every 5 minutes. I mean...you've met me right? What else would you expect?

The Transformation Proclamation

I'm sitting here, watching the cats stalk birds through the sliding back door. I have just put S to sleep for a nap. It's moments like these that I wish I had the energy to get everything done that needs to be done. But, these quiet moments are rare. I used to require a constant background noise. The TV, the radio, a youtube video...you get the picture. But, these mornings where the sunlight is filtering across my kitchen...I'm content just listening to the birds and the squirrels chirping along outside.

I'm settling into a groove with motherhood. It's only taking me about 10 months. Some days he throws me curve balls but most days, I'm feeling quite competent at this whole "raising a person" thing. Having a baby cage in the living room helps with that. He's simultaneously requiring more and more of my attention and learning to play independently as well. I can set him down in his play yard (aka the baby cage...I don't really stick him in a cage, people!) and he'll play with his toys and crawl around safely out of reach of power strips and surge protectors. But, after a few minutes, he catches me in the corner of his eye and does this...velociraptor/pterodactyl scream to catch my attention. After the ringing stops in my ears and the haze in my vision clears...I'll climb into the "yard" with him. Huh...it really is like baby prison, isn't it?

I'm still trying to figure out the whole me time/baby time balance, though. I have only blown my hair dry about twice since he was born. I'm able to slap makeup on pretty frequently, but let's be honest here...it does absolutely zero good when you haven't showered in two days and your hair is still knotted up from your last hasty post shower brushing. Or lack thereof. Trust me...I WANT to be a Hottie McHottiepants. But, yeah...unless I have a real honest to God reason to do all that...it's just too much work. Perhaps, that should be a challenge for me. Maybe I'll challenge myself to attempt to fully ready myself every day for a week. A week is do-able, right?

Okay, so let's set some parameters here. Operation NOT A BUM shall commence tomorrow morning. (I figure, we'll start on a weekend day. Let's make it a bit easier on ourselves here.) It will end next Saturday. Each day, I must make myself presentable enough to attend a play date, a job interview, or a date. Meaning, hair and makeup must be done...outfit must be legit. No yoga pants, y'all. Ugggghhhh...and I guess at some point...I should start working out.

If you'll recall from one of the last posts before my long absence...I was being cleared at my 6 week appointment to work out again. Y'all...it's been a long...LONG...Loooooong time since I was cleared and I have not done a single workout. I have lost all of the baby weight POUNDS, thanks to my gallbladder (had to have it out. But, prior to that I had to go on a strict low fat/non fat diet to keep from having horrible spasms) and a bout of rotavirus. (DO NOT GOOGLE THAT!!! You'll be sorry. Trust me on this one.) However, I still have a fair amount of flab that needs to go...somewhere far away. I've come to terms with my stretch marks. It's true what they say...once the baby is here, you don't really mind them as much. That and they're far less noticeable once you don't have 50 pounds of fluid and baby pushing on them. But, the flab...good God, man. It's there and it's proud.

All that being said, maybe this public outing is just what I need to do something with myself. I'll be hunting down blogs with great tutorials to help facilitate this transformation, so suggestions are welcome!!! I do know that I'll be hitting up Kate at The Small Things Blog for her awesome hair tutorials. And, who knows...I might even make some of my own tutorials while I'm getting ready each day. We'll see. Baby steps, y'all...baby steps.

Change is Good

I’ve been away for awhile. 8 months is probably more than “awhile”, though, right? I’ve got pretty legit reasons. If you’re still around and care to read, that is. We got hit by Sandy…no power for 16 days. With an 8 week old. Pretty sucky. A tree fell on our house and put a hole in the roof. After a week, we received a generator from my wonderful aunt and uncle. By the time we got power again and cleaned up the mess that was our house and the deck and the yard…it was Thanksgiving. And, then Christmas. We went back to Arkansas over Christmas break and got hit with a Blizzard. No power for a week. You see where this is going, right? The cosmos did NOT want me blogging. Probably for the best. It was a rough holiday season.

Then, we found a new house! Yay!!! But, we had no internet for the first few months we lived here. But, we do now…which brings me back here. I’m a little rusty. Forgive me…it’s going to take a bit to get my sea-legs back.

You might have noticed a few changes. We have a new name here at the ole’ blogstead. I started feeling like the blog was evolving. Where “Which One’s Pink” alluded to knowing but NOT knowing me as the author of this blog…I felt we had gotten cozy and familiar over the last year. (Mind you, these changes were in the works when Sandy hit, so we really HAD gotten cozy in that last year…not including my 8 month hiatus.) And, since we’re old pals now…I want to invite you to my front porch. Where we can sit and chat and drink coffee or wine and get to know each other even better.

I’m playing around with the layouts and the design of my blog, so it’s subject to change frequently. Feedback and opinions are always welcome. I’m still learning how to actually use my Blogger to its full extent, so I appreciate your patience as the page goes through various stages of construction. I’m also working on getting the blog to transfer to my domain name. I’m having some issues with that, but when I do get those bugs fixed, you should still be able to reach this blog through the original URL.

I did notice that my blog views have jumped WAY up over my absence. Not really sure what that says about me. Hahaha… Almost 9500 views. 450 in the last month. If you are one of those readers, let me just apologize for keeping you hanging for all these months. And THANK YOU for coming back and continuing to visit my page. It is most definitely noticed.
My little guy who was just about 6 weeks old when I last wrote is now almost 10 MONTHS old. Guys, I have a crawler…and a babbler. He’s amazing and you’ll hear more about him in coming posts.

That’s pretty much where we are at today. I have tons to tell you, but it would translate into the longest blog in the history of blogging. Seriously. So, please keep checking back. And, if there is anything you want to chat about, post a comment and let me know! In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed that I get this new design figured out!