Oh Those Curls

My little baby is not so little anymore.  I couldn't imagine not having her in my life.  Soon she will be eighteen months.  The time really goes by all too fast, especially when I was looking back on pictures from just a few months ago.

Ready for Princess Tea Party

Well, almost.....

I can't believe my oldest is going to be turning five.  It truly is hard to believe.  I do feel that I just blinked and had a baby in my arms and blinked again and have a feisty, spirited, independent girl in my midst.

We are gearing up for a princess tea party.  I still have a few things to coordinate, but the party is a month away and I have the time.  As of now, the invitations I made are being printed.  And a true singing princess is scheduled to come for the tea as well. 

Who would have ever thought I would be up for a princess party?  Let the pink prevail.

Front of the card. 

(Back of the card has all the when and where details.)

Small Changes

With the new year I was overcome with a crazy desire to make some small changes around the house.  I want to make it my home.  I'm working with a limited budget, so the changes I make will be small, but they will indeed put my mark on the place.

One of the first projects was to re-upholster the dining room chairs.  The dining room set is from the 1940s and was purchased at an antique auction several years ago.  It's been to the refinishers for some general structural help over the years.  It's true what "they" say though - They just don't make furniture like that anymore.  It's a solid set.  When it was purchased from the auction, the chairs had some hideous fabric on the seats. Taking the fabric off revealed the original fabric, which I didn't think was all that bad at the time.  So the chairs have been used for the last several years with the original fabric still holding up super well. 

Before - Original 1940s Fabric

I decided recently though that I was tired of the old fabric and wanted to change it up a bit. My lovely sister volunteered to help me with the project.  I had a budge of $50 to recover six chairs (five regular chairs and one captain's chair).  We headed out to a very swanky fabric store across town where I knew that I would not be able to afford half the fabrics in the store.  Once we got there, I made a bee-line to the back hoping to find a clearance section.  Score!  There was a clearance section and it was overflowing with goodies.

I set my sights on a fabric that both my sister and I thought the clearanced remnant might not cover all the chairs.  I held on to it anyway and continued looking around.  I found a second, more expensive remnant that would be sure to fit all six chairs.  Not being able to decide which fabric to go with, I walked away with both of the remnants.  I figured if the one I really like didn't work, I would find something else to do with it.  The remnant I really liked was originally $67 a yard!  It was on sale for $9.99 a yard, and the remnant was a yard and a half.  So $15 for the first remnant.  The second choice remnant was $15 a yard and was a little over two yards.  (Not sure how much this remnant originally cost, but I'm guessing it was around the same price range as the first if not more.)  I walked out spending $15 more than my budget, but I had two really great fabric remnants to work with.

Once I got home, I took apart all of the chairs and laid out the fabric I really liked.  And it just fit all six seat covers - just barely!  My sister cut the fabric and folded, and I went to town with the staple gun.  The project went much smoother than we anticipated.  And the result is some pretty nice looking dining room chairs!  I'll save the other, larger remnant for a few years down the road when I get the itch to recover the chairs again.

After - The fabric is a nice Italian velvet in a soft yellow. 

Although the wood looks darker, I didn't do anything to the finish of the chairs (before picture taken indoors with flash, after picture taken outdoors while I was scotch-guarding the chairs).

Happy New Year + A Few Weeks

I miss blogging. (My last post was over two months ago!)  I miss being able to sit on the couch at night and decompress from the day. (Major issues with getting the older one to fall asleep in her own bed).  I miss sleeping in general.  (Major issues again with getting the little one to sleep through the night).  But life is happening all around me and I'm trying to enjoy it as best I can.  Here's what happened over the past two months:

• The holidays came and went.  We enjoyed them.
• I thought about blogging a few times, but didn't.
• I have yet to finish editing my brother's wedding pictures (yes, it's really been several months since he married).
• I haven't taken nearly as many pictures as I've wanted to do.
• I've felt guilty for not continuing to do monthly updates on the little one like I used to do with the older one.
• I still do take monthly pictures of each girl on the date of their birth day.  I don't do anything more than snap a few pictures and download them to my computer though.
• I've already had enough of the darker, colder, shorter days .
• The little one is talking up a storm (single words, not stringing anything much together).  She's a smart cookie.
• The older one has quite the stubborn gene thanks to her mother.
• Work has been doing layoffs, and thank goodness I've been spared thus far.
• I'm working on doing another round of 101 in 1001 days.  I liked it before and would like to try it again.
• I'm contemplating two half marathons this year, which means I need to start running.
• But before I can run, I need to loose a lot of weight.  And I mean a lot.  Got on the scale last night and wanted to cry.  I'm  blaming it (the weight) on the little one and the major life changes of the past year.
• The older one and I have started writing in a gratitude journal every night at bedtime.  It's good for the soul.

Hoping to be a better blogger this year, but I can't guarantee anything.  Working on being a better Brooke is a bit more important :)

Introducing Butterfly

Not that I don't already have enough chaos in my life and not that I don't struggle each and everyday to try and keep organized and remember to feed the dog, I went and added more chaos to my life this past weekend.

We adopted a cat!

I grew up with cats - I don't ever remember a time in my childhood without one.

Shortly after I was married, we got a kitten and then another. And then due to allergies, we had to give them away (the doctor told him "Your allergies are so bad, tell your wife it's you or the cats". Guess I made the wrong choice.)

So this weekend I went to the shelter to check out a young cat I had seen on Petfinders.com. She was a perfect little kitty and it was too hard to walk way, especially with a four year old pleading "Can I have her Mama, please?" over and over.

The name she came with is just right - Butterfly. The older one spent all summer chasing and catching butterflies, so it ties the two nicely together.

She seems to have has no problem adjusting to her new surroundings yet. They weren't very sure of her age, but I'll find out when i take her to the vet for some shots. She's definitely young and frisky and tiny. She will stay an indoor cat, and I'm toying with the inhumane act of having her declawed.

She has made herself quite at home.

Feels Nice to Be Sought After

You probably read the title and thought I meant being sought after by a boy. Nope. Well, yes, a boy, but not like that.

Let me explain.

Last week I had a missed call from a number with an area code that I was not familiar with. No message left. Shortly after I received an email to my old account from a recruiter I connected with several years ago when I lived out of state. And then today I received yet another call and decided to answer.

Said recruiter asked if I remembered him and then said he had a job opportunity in Chicago that fit my skill set. I told him to keep me on his list, but that I was happy in my current position.

I remember back in the day when all my coworkers in consulting got contacted by recruiters all the time and I never did. Now that I have that company I left Michigan for on my resume, I'm often flagged as having a "special" skill set.

And you know what? It feels nice to be sought after, even if I have no intent on looking for a new job or moving again anytime soon.

P.S. So happy there is a proper Blogger app now :)

Under Water Mile

Well hello there little blog. I've missed you. Yes, I know I still owe you the rest of the 30 Day Photo Challenge pictures. But you see, I have yet to start editing pictures from my brother's wedding at the beginning of October. And I have a baby who hates to sleep. And my to-do lists at home and work are several miles long.

And speaking of miles, I decided to follow through with the Detroit Free Press marathon this past weekend that I signed up for back in January. Never mind that my training was no existent. I honestly only went out on two short runs all summer.

I knew going in to the run Sunday morning that I really was rather stupid. C'mon now, no training and 13 miles ahead of me? My goal was not to seriously I injure myself. And I promised myself that if I made it across the finish line (which I barely did) that I would never again commit to a run without properly training. (I did a lot of walking, a bit of jogging, and some running).

I kept praying for rain the day of the race, in which case I would have bailed on my dear friend who signed up with me. But no such luck. She picked me up at 5:30 am and off we went.

I had always wanted to do this run because you start in downtown Detroit, run the Ambassador Bridge over to Canada, run a few miles there, and then run in the underwater tunnel back to the U.S. So it's an "international" race that includes a mile long stretch under water. Not sure of any other races that can say that.

So the race is over. I hurt like hell the last few miles. But I'm glad I did it. I learned that I will never, ever do a race again without training first. And I'm hoping this is the kick-start I needed to get back in to running again.