I grumpy {not a morning person}

I am not a morning person. I’ve tried. I can’t be. Even though my body has been conditioned to wake up at odd hours of the morning and night for the past year, when I’m awake I’m still super grumpy. Some things that bother me in the morning:

^fighting over the comforter; sometimes I just give up

^Leah waking up before the 5:45am alarm

^indecision about what to wear, staring into the abyss that is my closet

^stepping on books, toys, toothpaste covers (?) that Leah dragged out

^when the escalator is broken (UGH!) and I have to walk up the stairs behind incredibly slow people (maybe they’re not morning people either)

^walking around said incredibly slow people to get to the door but then having to hold it open for them anyway

^no seat on BART, or only one available seat on bart next to a smelly/yucky looking person and I feel I have to sit down less I be accused of discrimination

^the inadequacy of the first cup of coffee

I know, people have bigger problems. I know, I can control like 90% of the things on this list. But it's too dang early.

Happy Friday.

p.s. it’s birthday eve and I think I’m going to take it easy today. ;)

P.P.S. look what Leah made in school.

I write {trying out DIY hand lettering}

We finally caught up on thank you notes for Leah’s birthday. I recently (2 weeks ago) came across this DIY hand lettering post (http://apairandasparediy.com/2013/04/diy-hand-lettering.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+APairAndASpareDiyFashion+%28A+Pair+and+a+Spare+%7C+DIY+Fashion%29)
and immediately needed to give it a try. Luckily I had a bajillion thank you cards to practice on and it was so fun and fulfilling. So, sorry friends for the delay, but now you know why (plus we ran out of stamps and I only finally got some today). Our gratitude is on its way in 2-3 business days!

i plan {new/gently used furniture in my future}

Yesterday I realized that it’s my birthday week; I knew it was slowly approaching but with Leah’s party and all the goings-on lately it kind of just fell to the very back of my mind. Can’t believe I used to make such a big deal of birthday week (to myself; no one else cared).  Anyway, between a couple DIY projects last night I carved out 30 minutes to paint my nails a pretty, pretty lavender. Oh how I want nothing more for my 32^nd birthday than for some time to work on home things and me things. 

I need to share some thoughts this week, thoughts like selling a couple of chairs in order to acquire new purposeful furniture, ideas that husband will probably only let me get away with because it’s my birthday.  So yes, out with these chairs. 

They looked good in our old house when we had so much space for them.  In our current little bungalow, one served for a year as the chair I used for nursing Leah and the other was used for tossing our coats, bags, etc. on.  But baby turned one and it’s time to wean so we’ve removed the chair from her room and freed up space for a little reading corner.  So far she just rolls around on the floor but that’s okay too.

I want to install board and batten (we’ll probably never actually get around to it) and get a storage bench for the hallway.  The idea is to provide an extra toy storage area (we’re bursting at the seams) and a space for us to drop our coats and bags when we get home from work instead of throwing it on the couch.  I moved our storage ottoman from our bedroom to the hallway this week to test out the new “system” and like it so far.  I’ve seen pretty pictures on Pinterest where they added hooks to the space but I’m not sure if that’s necessary since our coat closet is right there.   

The best part about living in a grown-up home is seeing how your furniture evolves with your space and family. Unfortunately Dang is not a fan of letting go and it takes a little bit of effort to convince him that we’ve outgrown some things. Our old coffee table sat in our bedroom for about six months before he finally agreed to get rid of it.  Anyway.  That’s my current obsession (one of many) and I hope to cross it off the list soon because guess what?

It’s June!  And that means it’s time to play outside more.

BTW, we bought our old coffee table on Craigslist for $30, used it for 2.5 years and sold it (back on CL) for $80.  How sweet is that!

I envy {those lucky ones who DIY for a living}

Maybe I should stop reading home renovation blogs because I have such a love/hate relationship with them. Love the inspiration. Hate that they fill me with such jealousy that I'm stuck at a desk 8-5! Don't get me wrong, I love my job (I'm reading blogs at 2pm, c'mon). But man, what I'd do if only I had the time and a babysitter!

I decided to be more productive about my envy today so I made a list of what I want to do to my place. I think besides paving the driveway, everything else is pretty manageable time and money-wise. I hope at least. :)

i bike {a half successful outing}

Leah’s bike helmet came in and we spent a couple of days trying to get her comfortable with it.  She hates hats and this heavy one with a chin strap is no exception.   We were able to distract and get her to wear it for a few minutes inside the house.  On Sunday Dang woke up determined to get us out for a bike ride.  He built Leah’s new Burley trailer, pumped up our tires, filled our water bottles and actually got us out of the house.  Unfortunately, Sunday was way too windy for a casual ride and our little lady was just not having it sitting in the trailer all alone with that thing on her head.  We ended up just taking the long way to the grocery store to pick up some fruit and headed straight home.  Had a bad mom moment and let Leah ride without a helmet on the way back thinking that maybe she’d enjoy the ride more if she could see outside.  No luck.  Next time, I think I’ll give her some crackers and more blankets to make the ride a little cozier.  Also hoping that the weather will be better next time because man, it’s not fun to be out of shape and pedaling against the wind.

Some things:

1. Enjoyed our first happy hour with Leah at Pyramid Brewery on Friday.
2. Drove off with our doggy bag (half a cheese pizza) on top of the car.
3. Leah pretends to blow her nose into a tissue now (very cute).
4. Leah will go over to Grandpa when she wants to go somewhere because she knows that he will take her wherever she wants!
5. She got an owl Jellycat from Aunt Wendy for her birthday and it’s now her “baby”; she’ll look for it and bring it back if you ask her, “where’s baby?”

6. Just today Leah started holding her feet up for me to put socks and shoes on. They grow up so fast!

Some photos: