{feeling inspired}

Today I'm feeling really inspired to create and I want to get my eyes on anything colorful, cheerful and whimsical to keep it going. I've been listening to Regina Spektor a lot in the past few days and her music puts me in such a cheerful, quirky mood. "On the Radio" is definitely my favorite right now.

I'm so excited to get these in the mail--->

An ebay find for the kitchen backsplash. :) I'm not sure if both of them will go side by side or if I'll split them up and put one in the dining room. Hmmmmm.... I'm hoping that they are close to a jadeite green, but it is hard to tell from a picture.

Some eye candy from my flickr favorites-->
I really want to get my hands on one of these paint by numbers! *drool*


Suziebeezie's pets are so spoiled! I really want to do this for our cats...


Maliburachel's china cabinet is to die for! Green! *heart*



If I didn't have to share my house with a man, I would totally do this pink and green combo...



And I'm loooooving the new designs from Hambly screen prints! Wish I could afford to buy one of everything! (especially the rub-ons...*drool*)




I could probably go on and on with things that are inspiring me today but I'll leave it at these for now. :) What's inspiring you lately??

{random}

I haven't blogged in awhile...haven't really had much to share I guess. Today I have all sorts of random things floating around in my head. Yesterday I hit the 25 week mark! Here is the obligatory belly shot-->


We really need a new camera...the one we have takes awful pictures. :( I've heard great things about the Canon Powershot series, so maybe we'll look into one of those before the babies arrive. Just one more thing to add to the huge shopping list!

I've been feeling more tired and overwhelmed by the pregnancy the past few days. Last night was a major breakdown night...lots of tears and feeling sorry for myself. But crying always helps, and I feel more optimistic today. A big part of it is the fact that my Grandaddy is back in the hospital. He collapsed a lung again and is having a rough time. I just hate that I'm not close enough to them to go visit him. But you can bet I'm saying lots of prayers!!

I've decided it is time to pamper myself a bit, so I scheduled a pedicure! I'm so excited...can you believe I've never had one?! Since I can barely reach my toes to paint them now, this will be a nice treat. I'm also very excited because I scheduled a maternity portrait session! I work at a college and our photography professor is doing it for free!! Can you believe that?! He is an award winning photographer, but mostly does landscapes, so he was excited for the opportunity to do some portraits. I've been collecting picture ideas from flickr mostly-->



They are all going to be black and white and I think I've convinced Dan to participate...he hates having his picture taken. :) I love the one with the baseball since that was and is Dan's sport. I also love this one with the scrabble tiles-->



I can't wait to see how they turn out!

We go a week from tomorrow for another ultrasound...it is always so amazing to see those little guys moving around in there. We also really need to get going on ordering stuff for the nursery. The cribs/mattresses/bedding will probably be first. If we go with the green bedding I've been posting about I loooove this pillow for the rocker...reminds me of something out of a Dr. Seuss book :)

I want the room to be whimsical but also soothing. I'm so anxious to start putting it together!

Whew...this has been a marathon of a post. Guess I did have a lot to share after all!

{turn that frown upside down}

So I was feeling down this morning...didn't want to come into work in all of the yucky snow and ice that we have. Just wanted to go back to bed. I was sitting here at my desk feeling sorry for myself when I started to feel the babies move...a lot. So I looked down at my belly hoping I would see it move. Oh my gosh did I see it move!! They are all over the place in there! This was the first time that I saw my belly move like that and now I have the biggest smile on my face. I think they are having a little dance party in there (or playing a game of tag football :) You always hear everyone say what a miracle pregnancy is, but experiencing it for myself I have to say that it is the most miraculous, amazing thing I know that I will ever get to be a part of.

I found this image on Etsy the other day and just love it...now its my avatar on several websites :)



We still haven't decided on bedding or furniture yet...I think we are both waiting for our next ultrasound to get some more confirmation on the sex. I think we both still have this feeling that one of them could be a girl...not sure why.

Once again I'm so glad it is Friday. We are supposed to get some more nasty weather today/tonight, so I'm looking forward to staying inside where it is warm tomorrow! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

{pretty)

I finally got around to put out all of my pretty stuff in the kitchen (and cleaning everything so I could take pictures :) I still want to find something to hang on the other side of the sink...I'm thinking an antique toleware tray, but haven't found the right one yet. Anway...here are a few pics. :)





Hope everyone is having a good weekend! I'm getting ready to put some cinnamon rolls in the oven. Mmm :)

{prayers needed}

My Mom's dad is in the hospital with a collapsed lung...what a way to spend your Valentine's Day, huh? :( He also has alzheimers, so it is really hard for him to be in a different environment than his home. I'd appreciate any prayers you could send his way and for my Grandmother, who has been dealing with the stress and sadness of taking care of him as his disease has been progressing. It is so hard to see a family member like this, especially when I don't live close enough to visit them. The past two years have been hard with the loss of both of my Dad's parents, so this is hitting me even harder because I don't want to lose another grandparent so soon.

On a happy note, I'm 23 1/2 weeks along now. Dan took a pic of me last night and thanks to our janky camera it is blurry, but you can still see my belly nonetheless. See my outie?!? It is hard to cover up that sucker! LOL :)



We had a really nice Valentine's Day yesterday. Dan surprised me when I got home by making me Giada's ricotta and chocolate-hazelnut calzones...OMG they are sooo goood!!!! He is such a sweetie. :) We went out to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's. It was pretty much the only place that didn't have a huge wait and wasn't Bob Evans. LOL :)

I'm definitely ready for the weekend. Getting my hair cut tomorrow and have a bunch of cleaning/organizing to do around the house. Hopefully my energy will last me long enough to get it all done!

Have a great weekend everyone!

{happy love day!}

moar humorous pics

I just love Valentine's Day...all of the cute decorations and of course the candy. :) I can't wait until I have my two boys to spoil with Valentine's kisses! This year I made Dan a mini-album that I got from Ali Edward's blog...made it so easy to have a template. I used patterned paper for the cover and some of Elsie's self-adhesive fabric...love that stuff! Here are pics of the album before I wrote in it...sorry they aren't the best quality.








I've already started to grow tired of the maternity clothes I have...it stinks wearing the same three outfits to work. I'm so cheap that I hate to buy too many things that I won't be able to wear again. But yesterday I *splurged* and bought this adorable cape from ebay express...it is BCBG and retailed for $180...got it for $50, and it isn't maternity so I'll wear this thing for years to come. :)



It doesn't look like I'm going to be pregnant for any warm weather, which stinks because there are so many cute spring maternity clothes out right now. Oh well, once warm weather comes around I'll hopefully be getting back into my regular clothes.

Hope everyone has a *love*ly day!! :)

{finished?!}

The kitchen is actually finished! (well, minus a few minor details) It doesn't seem real to me and I've yet to get really excited because it has been such a stressful process. But, it turned out exactly how I had envisioned it and our contractor didn't leave any small detail unfinished. What he lost in time management, he made up for in perfectionism. :) I love how the parquet floor turned out...it is almost the exact color of the rest of our wood floors so that worked out well. The sink is a dream...so big! Washing large items is sooo much easier now, especially with the tall faucet.

Here are a few pics...I haven't put out all of my decorative items yet, but you get the idea.

{owl crazy}

Another nursery montage for ya...I tried to make it more masculine with the dark furniture and I'm loving owl stuff right now. Found the print and adorable decal on etsy! (The greens look very bright on here for some reason...they are more subdued than that.)

{new front-runner}

After drooling over the nature-inspired dwell knock-off baby bedding for months, I've found a new favorite. Of course I love anything green and this is sooo soothing. It would also work out better in case one of the babies ends up being a girl (stranger things have happened!) I really love that there is a chocolate brown dot on the sheets. Green and brown is my favorite combo...it was our wedding color scheme after all!



And I'm usually not a fan of mobiles but this one is really cool and modern :)



I would still go with a chocolate brown rug and the adorable owl lamp from my last post, with the walls painted a warm tan and white trim.

On the kitchen front, it is still slowly coming along. The contractor was working on the last bits of floor today, then the baseboards and paint. I can't wait to have finished pics to share!!

{new banner}

I figured it was time for a new banner, 1. because my old one all of a sudden got cut off and 2. I had to add my babies! :) It is pretty simple, but so are my photoshop skills.

I put together this collage of ideas for the nursery today-->



I looooove the owl lamp! My parents have offered to pay for both of the cribs which is a HUGE gift...they are so wonderful. :) The one in the picture is the Graco Lauren and is very affordable.

I'll be posting more kitchen pics this weekend...the floor is about 80% done and is looking soooo good. We cooked our first dinner last night in over 2 months...and ate off of real plate with silverware! :) Even doing the dishes was a joy in that huge sink.

What are everyone's plans for the weekend? I'm looking forward to some much needed girl time with my Mom tomorrow...lunch and probably a little shopping. Sunday we'll probably just relax and watch the game. The weather here has been pretty nasty so I'm always up for time at home on the sofa!

Have a great weekend everyone!