New Addition...

I just bought this chair.

Trust me...the picture DOESN'T do it justice.  

I had to find a nice, red(ish) velvet chair for a groomal shoot I'm doing and I stumbled across this one.  The price was decent and it looked like it was in good shape from the picture so I said sure.  I went out this morning...took a look at it and oh my!  I fell in love.  It's in PERFECT condition.

I love it.  

I'm going to eventually (after the snow is gone and it comes in the house instead of being used for shoots) re-stain the feet to a much darker wood and eventually...when the velvet starts to wear...I'm going to re-upholster it to a fun and graphic print...like maybe this one...

Or this one...

Or maybe even this one...

Or I could go crazy and do something like this...

Or even this...

Call me nutty...but I kinda like the fish.  Random, I know.  

But for now, the chair will stay as is and instead get a lovely pillow made from this...

And it's going in my reading nook.  Mmmmmmmmm....

Halloween!

Ok...Halloween as a parent is SO much better than when you don't have kids.

Just sayin'

And when they're little and don't really care what they are...?

Even better 'cause then you get to dress them up in costumes like this...

Yup yup...hamburgers are basically awesome.

The Hubs wore a red shirt for ketchup and I wore a mustard yellow shirt for mustard.  Yup...we were the condiments to the hamburger.  Haha!

It was pretty much rocked.

Except that it rained.

A lot.

Good thing she doesn't care about the trick-or-treating part as much as just eating whatever she could get her hands on.

So we just stayed in doors and she got to eat whatever she wanted.

It was a really great day. 

Last Weekend...

...not the last 2 days, but last weekend we decided to take the Princess hiking while I got to take some beautiful fall pictures.

It's a good thing we did too 'cause it poured all weekend long yesterday...and the day before.

 

 Turns out that she's a very serious hiker.

She LURVES hiking.

Anything that involves leaves and dirt.

And the fall colors...?

Oh so my favorite.

 Mmmmmmmm...I've also discovered I have a penchant for taking vertical pictures.  I really need to work on the horizontal ones.

ANYWHOO!  So we went to the park afterwords and went crazy.

So fun.

And then we went to the slides.

Um.  Favorite thing EV.ER!

She had a blast.

She'll crawl up the slide and then turn around and squeal while she slides down.

I love being a mom...

Oh my!

I was just reading my favorite blogs today and felt completely and totally honored to be mentioned by Design Mom!

YES! THE Design Mom!

So!  I just had to give a shout-out and say thank you to her!  I basically think she's amazing and I've been feeling like I've had a brush with a celebrity all day.  :)

Mother's Day...

I just wanted to say how grateful I am for the beautiful little girl that made me a Mother.

I always thought that Mother's Day was all about the mom's. We would get cards and presents for our mom and they would get chocolate or a plant at church.

Now however, my perspective has changed. It's not all about me (honestly...it never was, there is my mom and Jeremy's mom, and grandmothers...and the list goes on), but this year...Mother's Day became a day where I was just so incredibly thankful for my little girl.

I kept looking at her and thinking "this is because of you, I got this flower, and the corsage (made by the primary) because I have you. This day is special because you came into my life. This isn't a celebration of me as a mom...this is a celebration of you being my daughter."

I can't help but feel so incredibly blessed to have this beautiful and special little girl in my life.

She is such a sweet spirit. She is so so feisty and yet so gentle. She knows what she wants and yet she tries to do what I want her to do.

And it's just so amazing to me how innately she knows what a mommy is.

She has her baby dolls and she's so sweet with them. She carries them all over the house, she pats them on the back, she tries to feed them her juice, she has me put a diaper on them, she puts them to bed...she's a mommy to her babies. And she's only 15 months old.

Seeing this understanding take place warms my heart more than I thought it would or could. It helps me understand that she knows my role. She knows that I will pick her up when she falls and hold her while she cries. She knows that I will sing her a song or read her a book. I will tuck her in when she goes to sleep. She knows I'm her mommy.

So my sweet girl...thank you for mother's day. I love having a day where I can contemplate the joy that came into my life when you were born. I love being able to have a day to thank our Heavenly Father for your presence in my life and to be so so grateful for the decision to become a mama...YOUR mama. It's a decision that has blessed my life in so many ways and has made me a ten times better person. All thanks to you. I love you baby! - love Mama

Our Easter was GREAT!  I would share pictures...but they're all on my in-law's camera.  I have some too but I'm at work.  I'll share them later.  :)

The rest of my week though has been crap not so great.  I am a photographer and my worst nightmare EVER occurred.  I'm not going to share the awful horribleness of it all details but yeah...stinks is not a strong enough word.

It sucked.

Bad.

So what do I do when I'm stressed and depressed?

I window shop.  And watch Princess and the Frog with my special girl but that is a story for another day. 

So in my window shopping I found these...

Don't they look amazingly comfortable?  I can totally picture them hanging from a shade tree in a backyard or on a wraparound porch.

I would use these to read in...ah...so comfortable.

Then I started thinking about comfortable hammocks...and I wished I had one.

Here are some awesome pictures of what I mean...

#1...

And another variation of the same hammock...

And this is just what it looks like...basically a stock pic of it.

Wow...does that look amazing and comfortable or what???  I seriously want to stick that in a backyard or bring it on a beach vacay with me.  I would just crawl inside with my pillow and a blanket and fall asleep.

#2...

Wow...the ultimate modern hammock.  Who says hammocks aren't contemporary?  Here's proof!

#3...and finally...who said hammocks are just and outdoors thing? 

Um...quite possibly the most awesome hammock I have ever seen.  Love. 

So...very random post, I know but it's where I am picturing myself right now.  Curled up in a hammock a) reading Pride and Prejudice or b) with my blanket snoozing away.  Mmmmmmmmmm.....

A long time ago I lived with a room-mate who had lived in Italy for several years of her life.  In fact...Italian was her first language.

I've ALWAYS wanted to go to Italy...and by always, I mean always.

I've dreamed of Venice...taking a gondola ride down the middle of the city.

Florence...wandering cobblestone village streets.

Rome...seeing the incredible originals of the Sistine Chapel...and many other sights.

And the list continues.

She would tell me all about her time there and bring me back little knick-knacks when she went back to visit.

One thing we would talk about was the Masqurade Balls.

You dress up in a ball gown and a beautiful mask...just like in the movie Ever After.

I've always wanted to go and the Hubby has promised me that it WILL happen.

I can't wait.

In the meantime...I decided to do a search on Etsy to find some pretty masks.

Here's one...

Image found HERE

So pretty.  I love the peacock and the black feathers.  And the black tulle?  Swoon...

Another option from the same seller...

 Image found HERE

Mmmmmm...can you just imagine a flamenco dress with this mask?

Black and red with lace.  Love.

A more simple yet no less stunning option would be this.

Image found HERE

So pretty and so classic.  You could do something truly dramatic with your hair and this mask would complement it perfectly.

But until my ball is scheduled...I think I'll make do with this...

Image found HERE

A simple and charming mask necklace that will always remind me of my goal and help it actually happen.

So pretty. 

So unique.

So perfect.

I'm ordering it today. 

Trains. 

Trains and boys go together like whipped cream and cherries.

We went to a model train show here last Saturday.  The Hubby had such a fun time sharing his passion with the Princess.

We've determined if I get a craft room/office...he gets a train room/office.  In our eventual home.

Here are some cute pics of our outing.  So cute...

I LOVE the Hubby's face in this one.  He's just having so much fun sharing this with his girl.  Or girls if you include me.  :)

http://www.kellehampton.com/2010/01/nella-cordelia-birth-story.html

This is one of the most beautiful stories I've ever read...especially as a mother.  Just a warning...you will need a box of tissues.