swing of things

I'm getting into the swing of things... I think. I do know that I'm excited to get back to the gym. I'm feeling the urge to sweat. I'm one of those weird people that actually likes going to the gym. I signed up for baby and me yoga and will be heading to baby and me bootcamp soon too.

I'm also starting to think about sewing again. Not sure when I'll get the time to do it but I'm feeling the urge to do that too. I'm not sure what type of projects I'll start working on but I can tell you that I just LOVE this scarf from Anna Marie Horner.


It seems a lot of other people do too because the project package isn't available right now. I'll keep my eye out for it and get it as soon as it gets restocked. I'm also thinking of what kinds of things I want to stock in my etsy shop. I'll probably focus on some baby things now that I have one but we'll see what the New Year brings.

Happy New Year!

all set for christmas -- well kinda

So we have the tree up and most of the decorations up but the gifts? Ya we're still working on that. Mark and I don't really buy for each other -- we stick to stocking stuffers, but I have been doing a bit of online shopping for the other members of my family. The problem is that some of it still hasn't shown up! Hopefully everything gets here in time!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas - this year is extra special with our little Leo. Best wishes to you all!

he's here!

Leo Joseph Enzo Fazio was born at 4:07 am on Nov. 22 - 8lbs 6oz! He's so sweet I'll write more when I have more than one hand :).

around the house

So we're down to 6 days overdue -- good thing I have a lot of patience! While we wait, I thought I'd share some of the things we've added or changed around the house in the past week or so.

My artichokes from Goodwill added to the side table


We added a stair runner so I wouldn't fall down the stairs (again...) and two pictures of our sweet nephews Sam and Max.


We moved this starburst mirror from over the mantle to the entrance way


This is one of the frames we got from Goodwill. We painted it black and used the mat that came with it. The picture is of the house where Mark and I met and lived for four years during university.


Finally, we got some photos printed from our honeymoon in Italy. This photo (on the right) was taken of a side of a hill with a zillion houses in Mark's dad's hometown in Sicily. The painting on the left was a wedding gift from my mom and is one of my favourites -- it's a road called Merwyn Lane which is in my hometown. I just love the colours and the rustic frame.


Ok the baby can come now 'cause we're running out of things to do! ;)

getting started on the christmas decorations

Since there's no sign of my baby coming yet, I decided to get started on some Christmas shopping and decorating. Well I won't be technically decorating until December (even though there are lights and Christmas trees up on my street already!)... but I wanted to start thinking about it. I did some shopping on Etsy this morning (love online shopping!) and thought of an idea to make a star garland to go over the fireplace.


I just printed off some stars on some card stock and I think I'll go to Michaels to see what type of glittery things I can get to punch them up a bit. I'm super excited about the holidays this year because we're going to have our first Christmas at home... with a tree! I can't wait.

waiting and stuff

So I'm 40 weeks pregnant today which means this baby should be coming any time. I'm not exactly sure when he'll come, but I'm thinking he'll come Thursday for some reason. Until then, Mark and I needed something to do, so we decided to go to Goodwill to see what kind of frames they had. We need to add some oomph to our bedroom and I want to do some type of framed vignette. We scored about 10 frames and Mark got right to work spray painting some of them white and black.


I also found some artichoke vase thingies that Mark is painting white. I think I'm going to put them on the hall side table. Aren't they cute?


While Mark spray paints, I'm making beef stew for dinner. Might as well do something while I wait!

side table revamp

I found this table in the garbage. I am a garbage picker. At least I admit it. Remember these chairs? I found those in the garbage too. I found this table in the garbage near a friend's house and thought it would be perfect for our upstairs hallway landing area. The only thing is that it had a hundred zillion nails in it that were keeping some type of material in place on the underside of the table. We weren't going to bother with the nails or even the fabric, but they were bothering me so I went to town pulling them all out.

Here's Mark sanding the table after my handy work.


And here is the finished product!


We gave the table a couple coats of black paint and added a little knob on the drawer that we had already. The mirror was in our bedroom but just didn't work so we moved it here. I'm also on the hunt for some decorative boxes or something to put on the left side and I'd like to get a nice basket and some type of blanket to put under the table to soften the lines a bit.

My favourite part of the area though is the statue of the mother and child. It was a gift from my Mom at one of my showers and I love it so much. The table and statue sit right outside of the nursery, so I'll be able to see it every day as I walk in to get the little guy out of his crib. Thanks Mom :).

mudroom - the hooks

The mudroom is moving right along: next up we have some hooks! We had a bit of wood leftover from the bench, so we decided to use it to make a hook rack that we could use to hang for coats etc.



Next up is the window trim, which I believe it will be made in the next week or so. Happy week y'all!

The Nursery!

We finished the nursery! Read more about it here!

mudroom - the bench

One of the items on my list of things to do before the baby comes was to build a little bench for the mudroom. A while back I fell in love with this bench and thought that one similar would be perfect for the room.


I managed to score some reclaimed wood from my best friend's dad and I ordered the legs from hairpinlegs.com. Then something magical happened: I went to my book club* Friday night and when I returned the bench was finished! Mark had put it together while I was out and I could not be happier with the results. I LOVE IT.


Next on the list is to put some framing around the window and make a blind of some sort. I'd also like to find some baskets to put under the bench and put some hooks up on the other wall. Stay tuned!

*My book club consists of reading a book with 3 of my good friends and then we meet for dinner somewhere, discuss it for five minutes and then chat about other things for 2-3 hours. :)

glider sneak peak

I'm starting glider recover project tonight - wish me luck!

the list

So I'm just shy of five weeks before I bring this baby into the world (providing he comes when he's supposed to!) and I have a bit of a list that I want to get through before he comes... (not all baby related.... more nesting related...). I thought it would be helpful for me to put the list here so I can get through it with you...

Work
Write my task list for whomever they get to take over for me...
Organize my emails
Finish up any outstanding projects - Done Work!

Baby's Room
Paint glider (we put it in the room tonight and decided it was fine as is!
Get new foam cushion for glider & ottoman and make cover for each
Hang pictures - done!
Get mattress cover
Get diaper pail/laundry basket
Add shelving & baskets for books/toys

Kitchen
Make and freeze meals - working on it!
Stock up on pantry items

Home Office
Clean and organize - so good to get it clean!
Make cushions for shelf/bench
Make/get a bulletin board

Mudroom
Make bench & cushions
Add framing around window
Add hooks for coats etc
Get baskets for under bench
Make roman blind

Bathroom/Linen Closet
Get baskets for baby stuff

Other
Clean my car
Put baby seat in truck
Pack for delivery day
Wash all floors

Ok I'm sure there's more which kind of stresses me out. The thing is I'm not really a list person so I'm not sure if this helps me... regardless, I do know that most of this isn't really important and the most important part is that the baby is healthy and has a place to sleep... the other stuff will get done when it's done! :)

update: I showed my husband this post and his response was: "We're not going into hibernation for 2 years you know..."

secret crush

I have a secret crush on Justin Timberlake... this was cute and full of my 'ol hip hop favourites ;)

my bathroom needs some oomph

When we moved into our new house a year and a half ago, we added a powder room on the main floor. I like the room but it needs some oomph. Here are some pics of the room (do you know how hard it is to take photos in a super small room???).



Here are the issues -- I like the grey colour but feel it needs some texture so I was thinking of getting some fun wallpaper to punch up the room. Also, I think there's enough room beside the toilet to put a bench or a shelf or something but what to put? (I also need to figure out how to straighten that darn toilet paper holder!) I work at home and use this washroom 18 million times a day (esp since being pregnant) so I think about it a lot. What would you do?

Deck - Before and After

What better time to show the before and after of our deck than on the first day of fall??? I meant to post this sooner but I didn't get around to it. The flowers don't look near as full as they do here and everything is getting a bit orangy and crispy but that's ok...

So here is the before shot:


And the after!


Mark designed it and then we enlisted the help of a work friend to put it together for us and he did an amazing job.

Next before and after will likely be the baby's room! We're ALMOST done. I still need to make a window blind, pick up and recover the glider and ottoman from my Mom, put up some pictures and a few shelves and that should be it! Oh I'm going to make a cute little owl softie too... better get too it all!

Happy Fall y'all!

new toy

Mark came home with a new toy tonight -- a new mac! I've been bugging him to get one for the longest time, but he didn't seem convinced. We had macs in our house my whole life growing up because my mom is a graphic designer and I haven't been using them at all in my day job so I missed them. We had some fun with the photo booth app tonight... can't wait to dig into this thing to see what other fun stuff I can do!

nesting

This is what happens when it's raining outside, the hubster is golfing (in the rain) and I'm 30 weeks pregnant.

pizza alla fazio

Ahh the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting cooler. Not too many more nights we'll be able to enjoy Pizza alla Fazio al fresco...

chicago - part 2

It just occurred to me that I forgot to post "Chicago - Part 2". Go figure -- my brain isn't working entirely well these days.

Now where did I leave off?

Oh yes. I left you staring at McDreamy and thinking about where we ate. That's really all that's important right?

Maybe I'll talk about what we did -- let's see if I remember:

Thursday night we went on a river tour of the city. I loved looking at the skyline and hearing about the history of the buildings from the water.



Friday we walked to the subway on our way to see the Cubs and found an old fire hall...


...and used the wall to take some hubby/belly pics...



Then we finally made it to the Cubs game (don't I look like a fan??)...



Saturday we went to Old Town and that's where we had the yummy pasta I mentioned in the earlier post. The Sunday we trekked it out to Oak Park to see some Frank Lloyd Wright homes. We saw him along the way and he looked thirsty...


This was one of my faves...


Finally we took the belly up to the 94th floor of the John Hancock building to see the sites.


It was a whirlwind of a trip but so fun. I can't wait to go back some day!

What have you been up to this summer?

chicago - part 1

This past weekend, Mark and I took a super long weekend to check out the sights of Chicago. I don't think I have ever walked so much in my life... Well I'm sure I have but it felt like I haven't this weekend.

One of the highlights of the trip is that we got to see Patrick Dempsey during the filming of Transformers 3. DREAMY. Oh that's McDREAMY I suppose.


Ok so he was far away but it was cool nonetheless and now I'll go see the movie.

The rest of the trip was fun too of course. We ate deep dish pizza, pasta, nachos, steak and Indian infusionish things. We watched the Cubs and trekked out to see some Frank Lloyd Wright homes.

Here's more on what we did:


Where we stayed:

Amalfi Hotel Chicago
This place was perfect. It was close to all the downtown sights but was also close to the "L" so we could go further out into the city. The beds were super comfy -- so much so that I miss ours very much (esp since we have a little double!) and each floor had a complementary breakfast in the morning.

Where we ate:

Lou Malnati's Pizzeria
I think we had about 2,500 people tell us to go to Lou's for some deep dish pizza and he (whomever Lou is) did not disappoint. We ordered a small which is crazy for us because when we eat pizza, we eat pizza. Mark and I can easily polish off a large pizza hands down so we felt a little funny when this mini pie came to the table. But it was ENOUGH. We got a salad beforehand and it was the perfect amount of food.

Sullivan's Steakhouse
We had a hankering for steak the next night so we found Sullivan's Steakhouse. We left it to the last minute to eat dinner so we didn't make a reservation but they had a table in the back near the kitchen so it worked out. We each had filet mignon with horseradish mashed potatoes and sauteed mushrooms and I have to stop talking about it now because my mouth is watering and I still have to go to yoga before I can eat dinner. The only drawback is that the washroom is on the second floor and being 6 months pregnant and having to go to the washroom every 5 mins (ok 2 mins) meant that I had to trek up a million stairs to go.

Topo Gigio Italian Restaurant
On Saturday we trekked out to Old Town to see if we could get Second City tickets and along the way we found Topo Gigio. Now a bit of history for you: Topo Gigio is a mouse -- think Mickey meets Italy. He's from the '60s and this restaurant has the rights to the name apparently. Anyway the food was DELISH (I really don't know any other way to describe food it seems) but the portions are HUGE. Like really too big for a normal person. I eat a lot ok... and I couldn't even eat a quarter of the bowl of pasta put in front of me. Look I can prove it:


See? But it was REALLY good. So good.

Ok I have to take a break there because I have to go to yoga. I'll give you part two when I get back.

In the meantime, you can stare at this if you want:

$4.99 goes a long way

I whipped these puppies up last night and this morning for the market tomorrow one of them using the rest of my $4.99 Ikea fabric I used for my porch pillows and then some Alexander Henry fabric I bought a while back.



I've been staring at the AH fabric for some time wondering what to do with it...I didn't want to touch it because I love it so much. I don't know what came over me but I just cut it up and made a bag with it and will have a little zip pouch to match. I love this bag and want to keep it, but we'll see if someone buys it tomorrow and if not it's mine. :)

Take care and have a great weekend!

What a Wychy Weekend

This weekend I'm heading to mid-ish town to the WychCraft Market to sell more of my bags and hang out with cool and crafty people. My sister is coming with me which will be fun. She can help me set up my table and lift anything that I can't (or don't want to as a result of my belly getting bigger by the minute ;)) but really it'll be fun just to hang out with her.

As you know, I haven't had any motivation to sew, but I have managed to cut out a few more bags and zip pouches that I'll be putting together tonight and tomorrow night.

My lack of motivation right now seems to be coming from the latest book I've been reading: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Honestly, I don't know why I pick up these books because I have a really hard time putting them down. I've talked to my brother-in-law about this a few times as he's a mega reader as well and there is just something about picking up a book and not wanting to do ANYTHING BUT READ the book. It really does take over my life. And the worst part is that there are at least two more of these freaking books after this one so I know I'm going to keep busy this summer reading (when I should be sewing).

So, what was I talking about? I've gone and lost track again.

Oh yes. This weekend.

So if you're in the St. Clair and Bathurst area this weekend (I think the construction is all done!) come by the WychCraft Market and see what's going on. I think there is a woman there who sells chocolates... at least there was last year. Oh and someone who sells iced coffee. There is also a really cool farmers' market around the corner at the Wychwood Barns that I'm sure you'll love.

Once I get my current bags done I'll upload some pics. I'm using the rest of my Ikea fabric from my pillows for one bag and some REALLY pretty Alexander Henry fabric that I'm going to have a really hard time parting with for another.

Until then, have an amazing weekend and talk to y'all soon!

diaper fun

I can finally show you the project I've been working on -- a diaper bag! Nope not for me -- it was a custom request for my sister-in-law's sister-in-law ;).

Unfortunately the photos aren't the greatest because I was running out the door to give it to her but you get the idea.

Now that this project has been delivered, I'm kind of enjoying just hanging out doing nothing :) I have some projects on my list for the new baby so those will come in time.



Have a great weekend!