Archive for the ‘retail therapy’ Category

The Nursery – where is it now?

4 Comments
Posted 19 Apr 2011 — by Mrs. Jenna
Category Abigail, baby business, house stuffs, paparazzi, retail therapy

Since I posted a “Nursery” tab at the top of the this blog, I realized how much we’ve added to it since then. The biggest addition being a toddler.

Not that I had another baby, but let’s be honest – this isn’t a nursery anymore. It’s Abby’s room.

I look back at all the initial photos I posted, and they’re so organized and minimal. This is due to two reasons – one being that Abby really WAS a baby, and was not able to do anything in this room but sleep in it. The second is that – and I’ll be honest here – I was trying to impress the folks at Ohdeedoh. And it didn’t work. I still get a lot of traffic from there, but it’s mostly people checking out the paint color on the walls. (It’s Benjamin Moore’s Grey Wisp if you’re curious).

Anyway, this room has changed from my version of baby heaven to Abby’s. There’s more toys, more books, more EVERYTHING because she needs deserves everything.

view from the doorway

detail: pictures opposite dresser

changing table, glider & shelves

detail: hook under shelves

detail from top shelf: personalized crest waiting to be framed

bookshelf, crib, diaper genie (gross), mounds of toys

And a more interesting view of the same picture:

VERY interesting

 

So, that’s a good vision of Abby’s room today-much more lived in, more crap, still more to do, but loved so very much by a little girl and her parents.

(if you have any questions about where we got anything, just let me know and I’ll add it to the bottom of this post!)

(oh, and sorry but not really about the photo quality. the fancy camera’s batteries were dead so I was stuck with ye olde point & shoot. my bad.)

Baby Announcement Crest – Found at a gorgeous Etsy shop called Spread the Love. Melanie was awesome to work with!

The interwebs pull through again.

4 Comments
Posted 12 Apr 2011 — by Mrs. Jenna
Category house stuffs, I am awesome, other people are awesome, retail therapy

So, remember a few weeks ago I ordered that sassy bamboo dry erase board from CB2? And then it got here and was HUGE and I had to send it back?

Gwen, the designer of said bamboo boards and owner of Three by Three Seattle contacted me to let me know there’s only a billion (exaggeration) different sizes and options of their bamboo dry erase boards. I checked out their site and found THE PERFECT one for us. Gwen was kind enough to provide me with a discount code in exchange for a Facebook “Like” and I proceeded to add to cart.

My perfect little bamboo board came yesterday.

The Bamboo Butler

It came with mounting screws and a little dry erase pen. So, I went to the workbench downstairs, grabbed my drill & level and got to work. And after only one cut to the knuckle (who the hell knows how I managed to do that) it’s up and AWESOME.

 

View from the kitchen sink.

Up close.
Hell yeah I watch Idol.
And you are not invited to the makeout party.

It’s really everything I needed when I ordered the original one, and more. Now we have a place to put our keys that we will A) remember and 2) not have Abby be able to reach them and hide them in her play kitchen. She’s a sneaky one, that Abbers. It’s even got a little slot in the back to put mail or other documents you need to pay attention to. (I’m looking at you, hubs.)

Long story kind of long, I love it. It was super easy to hang and it looks killer.

Gwen is also being kind enough to extend a discount to you guys! Either “Like” Three by Three Seattle on Facebook or shoot me an email and I can whisper the secret code to your email. But, you should probably just “Like” them on Facebook anyway because they have cool, modern looking products that I know I want to keep tabs on…and you should too. You ARE my readers. I assume you have style.

The Fine Print: Gwen and the folks at Three by Three Seattle didn’t pay me or compensate me for this post. I don’t get anything if you get a discount code for yourself, except knowing I made your home that much more awesome.

Loose ends & online shopping hiatus wrap-up

1 Comment
Posted 30 Mar 2011 — by Mrs. Jenna
Category blog bidnass, house stuffs, retail therapy

I’m still alive! I promise. I’m busier than I can even explain, my mom’s in town to keep an eye on Abbers while the hubs’ parents are on vacation, we have a wedding to attend this weekend, blah blah blah. So yeah. I’m busy.

HOWEVER, loose ends to be tied:

1) My mammogram was without fanfare and also without anything out of the ordinary. So, I’ll have another again at some point. Maybe in 2 years. Although I got some weird rash where my shoulders touched the machine. Minus two points.

B) That kick-ass bamboo dry erase board? It arrived and OH SO PRETTY. And yet, was too large to fit anywhere in my house where it made sense. SADFACE. I put it back in the box and shipped it back to CB2 on Monday. A little piece of my heart broke. Although I learned a lesson: measure once, order once.

and the biggest bullet point:

#) Tomorrow is the end of the month. Which means this is the end of my first ever online shopping hiatus, which I failed miserably. When all was said and done, I had ordered that dry erase board, 2 pairs of Toms shoes (one for me and one for Abbers), and a Groupon for auto work, which kind of doesn’t count since we saved money on something we would have purchased anyway, but in the interest of full disclosure – there it is. And I TRIED to buy my Toms at Nordstrom but they didn’t have my size in stock and apparently wouldn’t FOREVER, so I bought them from Nordstrom.com instead.

Grand total spent online: $155
Minus Groupon and dry erase board (since I sent it back): $85

So, I did better this month, but not awesome.

I dare say I will try again next month.

Also, I got an iPhone last week, so I hope to be posting random photos of le bebeh more often since she’s turning into a stranger around these parts. I know you’re all really here for her anyway. Who wouldn’t be?

My therapist made me do it.

3 Comments
Posted 18 Mar 2011 — by Mrs. Jenna
Category Abigail, house stuffs, I am awesome, marriage, motherhood, other people are awesome, retail therapy, TheRapists

I bought something online.

But it was necessary.

I visited my therapist this week and unloaded on her. She agreed that the culmination of the past month’s events would be enough to send anyone over the edge, no less someone who’s very familiar with PPD/A.

Sometimes it just takes hearing it from someone else’s mouth to make it all the more easy to deal with.

I can’t control a lot of things, like when Abby gets sick, or when scary stuff happens at work. I CAN try to control other things, like how much sleep I get, or stopping myself from feeling overwhelmed.

So, we devised a plan which I later shared with the hubs about how we as a family can help me, the mama, not go off the deep end. One plan is how we handle our sleep situations when Abby’s sick (like alternating having someone sleep on the couch (and that person gets the uninterrupted sleep) every other night). Another is assigning chores and days to complete them for the house. I left her office feeling optimistic; still on-edge, but optimistic. Once I finally got enough cojones to talk to the hubs (like I said before, I have communication issues) and we discussed things, I feel better.

Immediately, I knew what I had to do.

I had to buy this:

The bamboo dry erase board by CB2. I had the remnants of the gift card left after making our combined birthday purchase of this duvet. So, after docking the $35 I had left on there, this only cost me about $35 (with shipping).

I know, I broke my month long online shopping hiatus. But I really feel like this will be SO VERY HELPFUL in our kitchen so we’re both reminded of our daily chores. If we know I’m only going to do laundry on certain days of the week, I know it should all be downstairs near the washing machine or it’s not going to get done. And if the hubs sees that it’s Sunday night and he should take care of the recycling & garbage, then I wont’ have to be a nag. Hopefully, it’ll turn our house into a well oiled machine, instead of being on OSHA’s watch list with a manic, chocolate & wine inhaling micro-manager at the helm.

Not to mention this so much prettier than those ugly white dry erase boards. Am I right? Can I get a witness?

In any case, I will not buy anything else this month. And if I don’t, I’m still $165 richer than I was last month.

In other news? SNOW IS MELTING. ABBY IS GETTING BETTER. LIGHT AT THE END OF THE WINTER TUNNEL.

And I think this weekend we’re going to finally replace the point & shoot camera I lost on the way to Mexico earlier this year. (Hence the lack of cute Abbers videos lately.) Get ready to be bombarded by the cute.

THE CROUP! Part 2, and I can’t believe it’s only been 8 days.

1 Comment
Posted 08 Mar 2011 — by Mrs. Jenna
Category Abigail, motherhood, retail therapy

First. THE CROUP! It’s strikes again! “But Jenna!” you exclaim, “it’s only been less than 4 weeks since she had it!” Why YES, internets, you’re correct! So, imagine my surprise when we ended up in the ER at nearly 11pm Sunday night with our Abbers and the worst stridor we’ve seen. Poor girl was so tired and feverish and couldn’t sleep because we were in a noisy ER with drunk fools and other kids with respiratory problems. Alas, they gave her an oral dose of Prednisone and after an hour of observation, we were allowed to go home. At 1am. I don’t need to tell you that her sleep schedule (and thus, her sleep training) has taken a gigantic shit. I only hope that when she’s finally feeling better (probably sometime in May when the snow has finally melted) (I’m not being sarcastic either) she’ll go to bed like a good girl again.

I will say, the difference without and now with the steriods is NIGHT AND DAY. She’s so much better this time around, though still sick with a cough & runny nose, but so much less struggling with breathing at night.

Now, the other part of my post. It’s only been eight days since I put myself in an online shopping ban and I’m going INSANE. I’m not allowing myself to look, because if I look, I will buy. The not looking is what’s so hard. Just because I’m not visiting those sites anymore, doesn’t mean I don’t see their products. Must…not…look…

I DID buy Abby a dress at Hanna Anderson this weekend at ye olde Mall of America.

(it was on sale)

But it’s been 8 days, and I haven’t bought anything yet. This is going to be a long month.

← Previous Entries
Next Entries →