happy little one

hello lovelies :)

With a full heart I would love for you to finally meet my squishy little baby. He's my new handsome little stud muffin. I cannot believe he is so sweet and adorable and all mine :) After 9 months of waiting it still amazes me that he was in my belly this whole time. Kicking away, growing, waiting for the perfect time. And he came and it was all not as bad as I thought it was going to be. During contractions I kept trying to smile through them. I mentally pictured little r in my arms and counting his little fingers and toes... one little piggie, two little piggies, three etc... and boy did that help me keep focused. I started contracting late thursday, all day friday and by saturday morning i had enough of waiting for the contractions to even up we just went to the hospital anyway :)  thankfully mr.handsome helped me through the entire process and we made it out alive :) 

Thank you SO much for your words of encouragement... i definitely channeled positive thoughts and prayers throughout the 12 hours of labor. I might have proposed marriage to the epidural doctor and maybe to a nurse or two. ;) But in either case, Mr.handsome and i are both bursting at the seams with pride and joy over our little man. He smiles after every feeding. He makes the cutest little noises. and he has the most beautiful happy eyes I have ever seen. little r has been getting so much auntie & uncle love around here. I still feel his newness. That's my baby. that's my little guy :) even at 2 am in the morning hehee.  this new chapter has been good so far. i'm looking forward to everything with anticipation and a bit of nervous excitement... but oh so thankful for every moment of every day. thank you for sharing in this personal journey with me and sending words of hope and comfort.  baby kisses to each of you 

xoxo

little r + happy mama

let's play...

spot the pregnant lady :)
last week mr.handsome and i took a fun trip to target for some popcorn & last minute maternity shopping. Okay, so we also bought a chocolate chip cookie & soda... but i will say i shared with the mister and it was all his idea :) jk.

So as I was wandering around trying to settle on new maternity items i have no idea about ( ie nursing bras, etc -SO confusing ) and picking out a new outfit for the hospital leave ( because you have to keep some cuteness and i don't want little r to think i'm a huge mess.) ... i walked past a little 4 year old girl holding onto her mothers hand and walking next to her grandmother. not even 3 feet from me the little girl stops and points and says... look mama that lady is REALLY pregnant!
nice.
i'm right in front of you kiddo.
and i feel like you just spotted a whale.
but thanks.
i just smiled and looked down at my huge belly.
yep. can't miss it.

- even though i can still see my feet.
- have only one cankle ( my right foot flares up for no reason and looks like an elephant foot-sexy right? )
- still fit into my boots ( okay, mr.handsome has to help put them on & take them off - it's so pre-school!)
- i wake up 4 times every night. no sleep. tinkle business. extreme back aches. ( i miss sleep )
- my face cheeks look more like i'm a part of the chipmunks gang. extremely hard to hide. thank you for not mentioning it. :)
- i still refuse to purchase any maternity clothes. even the pants. i wear my jeggings and the bellaband like it's my uniform. i am 10 days away... can i make it without purchasing one bit of maternity pants?! fingers are crossed...
- still trying to walk 3 miles a day. so far it's been good, despite the cankle :)
- and what do i do instead of packing my hospital bag last night? bake 2 batches of oatmeal cookies. i mean really. they were so worth it. except i have yet to pack my bag.  it's like i don't want to :) hahaa. afraid? yes. nervous? yep. excited? oh yeah.  in my defense. the bag + my clothes etc are both out and waiting to be packed. it's gonna get done. i just know it :P



so 38 weeks, a few days shy of 39 weeks. 10 days to go. the mister and i have been enjoying spending time together. we saw the muppets movie and everytime we do something like that i say awww... this might be the last time we do this or that. etc. i hope we look back on just us in a very happy way. ( thank you to my mister for agreeing to take another self portrait photo, above. I know he's not a huge fan of having his photo taken but man he looks great :)

december brings us to our birth month for little r. We celebrate our 3rd anniversary just a few days after that. but most of all, we get to enjoy our first christmas together as 3 + mr.rogers :) can't believe it!

I almost forgot to mention something totally fun :
Inspire Lovely was featured in this issue of Mollie Makes:

What a wonderful magazine and such a lovely place to be featured in. This is our little shop home. It's going to be fun fixing it up while on maternity leave and bringing in new things into the shop. We've already begun to jot down ideas of new items & things to feature for the shop. Some exciting stuff is happening in 2012 :)  and to think little r will be hanging around to enjoy it too *smiles*

So closing time... if you have any last minute items to purchase today is your day. After tomorrow Inspire Lovely will be a little quiet and sit waiting until Jan 2012. It's when i hope to come back :) but you know, it might take a little bit longer. Lets hope little r is good to his mama. :)

I am working on little r's birth announcements...hoping to share soon...thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement! I'm printing all the comments and keeping them in my journal to have when i go into labor and need some extreme words of hope. :)  

love & big mama belly hugs,

debee + little r

& my cankle. ;P

almost there

hello lovelies. happy day after thanksgiving :)
i meant to blog sometime sooner yet here i am late as ever but still here. little r is still baking practicing his ninja moves every day. he seems to be getting stronger and faster each day. i'm very excited about giving those little arms and legs of his a kiss soon :)

birthday card for mr.handsome... sometimes happy birthday isn't enough.
i thought i'd let him know how i felt about him :) felt leaves and crazy sewing lines = love xoxo

mr.handsome has put together the baby stroller and each time i go past it i look inside the baby car seat on top and see  how teeny tiny of a space is in there and sometime soon little r will be there too. i get all teary eyed each and every time i go past it. it's so crazy. we've also finished up our last lamaze class, toured the hospital and enjoyed eating out on our last and final date nights for a while. and to think only 3 weeks left. i have SO much i still need to get done and yet i feel like i have another 3 months to catch up on it all. but i don't. and this nesting thing hasn't kicked in hahaa! i'm lagging on packing my bag for the hospital. i haven't finished buying everything i need. ahhh.... so random. even still i'm very thankful for everything. mr.handsome snapped this shot a couple weeks back after a friends baby shower. babies everywhere! hehee. it's nice to not be the only one pregnant and have someone to relate to.

so three more weeks and i'm still trying to decide when it will be a good time to close down the shop and enjoy some maternity leave. being self employed has it's perks working from home and all. but maternity leave is not quite something you get while being self employed. you work or don't. seems to be something i'm not sure how long i need. lucky for us mr.handsome will be home for some time to help with little r and the shop if need be. but for now we've decided december 5th will be our official closing date. if not sooner ( just in case little r comes before his due date). I've enjoyed this roller coaster of a year. I've stocked up the store with last minute christmas items for you to enjoy.

Each order placed from now until December 5 will have a little gift to go along with it as a thank you for everything. :) I'm also extending the free shipping on all orders over $30 before shipping until December 5th. Happy shopping!

Opening up Inspire Lovely early December and now closing it for a bit for maternity leave have impacted my life so much. i'm truly thankful and sincerely blessed to have served every lovely who has shopped the store. I've been more than happy to gift wrap each lovely package for each person. and sending out over 2,500 items out all over the world. it's been quite wonderful. thank you. with my whole heart. thank you. i hope not to be gone for too long but one thing is for sure, i'm missing you already. in the mean time, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we go through the process of bringing little r into this world.

i'm not as strong as i think sometimes. and i could use all the prayer and love you send my way. i hope to be brave, stay strong and think happy and positive thoughts for both myself & little r. these past couple of months with little r growing in my belly, i've appreciated the role i've been given. this little guy is mine to bring into this world and only i can do that for little r. i can't wait to hold him finally in my arms and meet my new little buddy for life. xoxo

thanks so much for listening...
big baby bump hugs to you
xoxo

love,
d & little r

First Harvest

Last weekend we crossed one more thing off our list of things to do before little r comes.  Mr. Handsome took me to a local farm to enjoy the harvest this season. We researched a few and found our way to Bate's Nut Farm. The whole way up the mountain, the scenery, the kick back schedule, it was a welcome change. i wrapped it all up and tucked it away in my heart for keeps. it was one big happy moment.



i have to admit it was pretty silly of us to be in a large place filled with families and little ones. We were the only one's there without kids it seemed. just us and our little baby bump :) We picked a pumpkin a tad bit bigger than little r :)



i had asked mr.handsome for a pumpkin and i got a golden sun shiny kiss :)



The corn maze here wasn't so lush but we made it work. It certainly made for a perfect backdrop to a snapshot of what i like to call my "super pumpkin mama look".  *cheesy* yes, i know. thanks to the mister for being patient with me :) I was going for a happy baby bump + mama + pumpkin photo. i think little r is going to love picking our pumpkin next year. I'm so excited! i can't wait to toast up the pumpkin seeds & make some pumpkin bread this weekend. yay :)



and just because i'm so darn silly and i do love to share a good laugh (even at my own expense) a story about my la la moment while at the farm:  so with all our research i remember seeing various farms offering a variety of treats; apple cider, hot chocolate, caramel covered apples, apple pies, cotton candy and even pumpkin pie... and for some reason i remembered the pumpkin pie. It got stuck in my head (actually my craving tummy :) And when we got there i kept asking mr.handsome where the pumpkin pies were. he kept giving me this blank look like what are you talking about?! we went to the ticket booth to buy our tickets and i kept looking around hoping to find the lucky pumpkin pie stand and nothing. i turned to the mister and he was talking to the ticket lady and she mentioned pumpkins and i said quickly oh yum! pumpkin pie! and she then gave me a blank stare... i get those alot :) hahaa. and the mister knowing i was going crazy just kept the conversation going about where the pumpkins were etc... i once again asked so the pumpkin pies are over there? and i totally pointed and everything and then both the mister and the lady stared at me with there "crazy lady face" stare. the mister paid our tickets laughing and turned leading me to the pumpkins to pick and told me i was the craziest pregnant lady he knew. i must've been craving a slice of pie and that's all i had on my brain :) nope. no pumpkin pie at the farm. what a let down. but we laughed it off anyway and the next day he came home with a big pumpkin pie just for me... which i'm happy to say i have enjoyed a slice each say since. xoxo.. one for me and one for the baby :)

so crazy pregnant lady i am... the end.



another thing i've been crazy about is making huge crochet flowers to pin on my coats :) I made the one I am wearing in the harvest photos a while back. Back when we went to mr.handsome's grandmothers funeral. i wanted to wear something pretty in her honor. and i knew she loved to crochet etc so i made the large flower to embellish my dress i wore for her funeral. i think she would've liked it :) and since then i've been making them to give to family & friends xoxo.



especially during this gift giving season ahead of us. i think they would look great on some lovely friends xo.


lots of pretty colors to choose from available in the shop.  I hope you like them too :) i've been wearing them on my sweaters even though it still is pretty sunny and warm around here. i can't wait to wear them around a scarf & my big winter coat! so excited :)

i hope you find some time to get out and enjoy a little bit of pumpkin pickin' and some pumpkin pie eatin' :)  i'll let you know how everything goes with the pumpkin cookin' :)  ps: if you have any favorite pumpkin recipes you think i should try i'd love to hear about them, pretty & please and a big thank you  :)

happy times to you
xo
-d & her baby pumpkin :)

October brings in the spice :)

These last couple of weeks the mister and i have been pretty chill. As our time gets closer to meeting little r ( about 8 weeks to go! yikes ! ) I've been making mental notes about places and things i want to visit & try out. mostly visit :) but one thing on my list of things to try out was making cake pops - some of my favorite desserts that seem to be popping up all over the web. I found this recipe through Bakerella. She has her own book and I came across it a few months back which lead me to her amazing tasty blog :)



I made a few changes:
- instead of red velvet cake I tried to spice things up with a little fall lovin' and made mine from carrot cake. mmmm..... yummy xoxo. *smiles*

- I also added a few cups of chopped walnuts to the mix

- I topped the cake balls off with a sprinkle of extra walnuts as the chocolate set. we are a bit nutty about nuts over here tehee.



They don't look as beautiful & perfect as Bakerella's but for our first attempt i think they came out quite alright. Either way, it's all about the taste right? and they were mighty delicious! i could honestly only take one cake ball. it was such a sugar rush!!! i wish you could reach over and have a few. we still have some left over :)

also something else i've been making and thought i'd share a peak with you xo
crochet love xoxo
for family& friends... flowers are the best :)
soon to be hitting the shop shelves, Inspire Lovely for holiday gift giving. sweetness xo

and taking a wee break, resting my arm from all the crochet. with my silly puppy

mr.rogers and i snuck outside away from the studio to catch some sun rays yesterday... trying to spend more time with the little guy... preparing him for his new little buddy, little r.  getting all emotional and of course blaming it on the pregnancy hormones raging.  i hope we make time to catch more sun rays together. and more puppy hugs :)

we are wishing you a very happy weekend lovelies!
xo
-d

Inspire Lovely Studio Tour

It's been some time since sharing the studio with you. It's gone from a silly craft room to a part-time work from home/craft room to a full time shop studio. And each time it changed, it was hectic trying to reorganize everything in this space but thankfully with Mr.Handsome's help we made it work.  I have extra storage up in our attic area for the rest of the items from the shop that are organized by color in a box :)  It's so pretty, convenient, & efficient since I had such a hard time trying to organize everything each time I would add something new to the shop. Now i can just think of the color and easy peasy, locate what i need in the correct color box :)  My brain... it's so elementary hahaa.

so welcome to my studio!

This is the first view upon entering the studio. ( I of course would be waving hi to you on the right side by the desk :)




Turn to the left and you will see my cute little closet space turned into a simple craft storage area.

I like to keep my yarn in rainbow order :)  I've hung some pretty fabrics I purchased from a recent trip to Purl Soho in NY. They are so pretty to look at i love peeking over & seeing them there. xo
PS: I get so many questions about the mini organizing cubby and where I got it. It's from Making Memories and I bought it at Michaels back over 5 years ago. It's one of my favorite things they've made :)

Look to the right and you will see the upcycled storage piece I scored at a local thrift store.


The cubby piece was originally a floor piece with cabinet doors. Mr. handsome took those off and painted all the pieces. (that's deep love xoxo thank you mister xoxo :) And the bottom piece was a simple vintage armoire piece. But together i think they look pretty fabulous. Like they were meant for each other :) xo



i love shopping the clearance/sale section at my local anthro. it's so nice to buy cute knobs to brighten these drawers up for less than $3 bucks. I've kept some of the original brass circle knobs just for fun and also to stay within budget :) i LOVE my puppy knob xoxo (mr.handsome again rained supreme by painting the bottom piece with a fresh coat of white paint to match the top)



all the cubby storage is really a dream come true. it's been so fun moving things around and it really helps to see what you have and use it :)

on top of the space i like to keep my collection of jars filled with spools in all shapes + vintage globe + vintage horses i scored at a local thrift shop.  
they are so pretty & cute to look at :)

and inside each cubby i keep Inspire Lovely shop items on the "virtual shelves" + extra bits of things i collect. here are some of my favorites:


















And finally my desk space, where i take care of all things "Inspire Lovely" :)



I've had this IKEA desk for years and i love it. it's very clean & has plenty of space for extras.  I cleaned it all out though just to start over clean and now i am counting down to just how long i can keep it all uncluttered :)  So far, its been 2 weeks hahaa!

well thanks for stopping by and i wish you a happy & lovely day

ps: if you have any questions about the studio i will answer them here in the comments section :)

xo
xo
-d