Garden IN, Gardenin'.

I have to say, few things in life make me as happy as my garden in full bloom. However, this has been one of my most challenging years, as it's proved challenging to till, prep, and plant the garden with a big old belly. It normally takes me about two weekends to fully prep and plant my garden, whereas this year it took close to four. I move at the speed of molasses these days, but my determination to get this garden in has helped push me through. I've also had to ask for more help than I ever normally would in order to get it all done. Thankfully, the garden is IN, planted, fertilized, and ready to go for summer.
I've spruced up a few things this year, as we removed the grape vine and added a real fence (my husband didn't think it was the safest idea for me to be stepping over chicken wire every day!). My eventual goal is to fully plant out the entire left side boxes of the garden with perennials like salvia and sage, so there is bright color that also attracts the honey bees for pollination. I made some fun signs with saucy titles to label my garden, and got a couple of cool decorative pieces. We also had part of our fence blow down during the winter, which was what prompted the grape vine removal, and we plan on slowly replacing the entire back fence over the next few years.

 This is the time of year that I look at my garden and say "it's so little!".. but in a few short months will be enjoying a glass of wine at the outdoor table lit by our cafe string lights or candles in big blue mason jars, eating a healthy meal from the garden in full harvest.. thinking to myself: "Life cannot get any better than this".

The difference this year is that there will be three of us at that table enjoying and appreciating our little life :)

Blackboard MDF cut to size at Home Depot, then glued using Liquid Nails to left over pieces from our fence project. I sauced things up a bit with "Hey Mickey you're so fine BASIL", "Identity crisis cucumber: Am I a lemon? Am I a cucumber?". "Tomatoes: killer and attack of...", "Peter Rabbit's Carrots", "Who you callin' yellow?! Squash", "Vampire Deterrent", "Heart break onions", "Mini Jack Skeletons: Pumpkin Kings", and "Turning Japanese Eggplant". 

Grow little guys, grow!! I'm so excited for this years crop: Herbs: Rosemary, basil, mint, cilantro, garlic. Green, red, and yellow bell peppers Japanese eggplant, lemon cucumber, Armenian cucumber, onions, potatoes, crookneck squash, zucchini, mini pumpkins, carrots, and tomatoes. MMMmmm. I can taste the pico de gallo, grilled squash, pickled carrots, and mojitos now!!

Finished nursery

The nursery is finished!! My awesome husband had a lot to do on this project: rip up baseboard and replace with new ones, rip out old blinds, install chair railing, and tons and tons of painting, not to mention some serious safety upgrades on our electrical. Obviously, I wasn't really allowed in during any of these phases.. which will probably be the one and only time I escape a home remodel project! I couldn't be happier with how the whole thing turned out, and am so thankful to my hubby for all he did. Now, we just play the waiting game until our little bean arrives....

 

Nursery BEFORE

Nasty baseboards ripped up... see ya!

"Some assembly required"

Looks like he's enjoying this whole thing, right?

I re-purposed the table numbers from our wedding, using the frames I painted and sanded last year. I found the Beatrix Potter prints I wanted from online, printed them on cardstock, and trimmed to fit. My favorite story growing up was "The Tale of Two Bad Mice", so I made sure I got a few prints of those in there as well. 

Found this guy from Pottery Barn and had to have it!

Grandma Rose made us this beautiful quilt for the baby

I had to do some major restoration and clean up on this little guy, but it was worth it. My father made this, and my mother painted it. It literally is priceless to me :)

My DIY ruffled curtains. LOVE them!!

I'm apparently SO confident this baby is a girl, that I made the burlap "G"... If I'm wrong, I'll be making a "C"!

All finished!

We'll see in just a few weeks......SO EXCITED!

Whirlwinds and Headspins...

Everything is done in preparation for the baby's arrival, and we are 17 days away from my estimated due date. I've been in a whirlwind trying to wrap everything up at work, life, and home, so that I can truly take the 12 weeks off to spend with the baby. I have great photos of the completed nursery, my garden, and a few other side projects that I just need to sit down and commit to this blog (that'll happen this weekend!). But other than that, I've been in a bit of a headspin.

Wow. In 17 days (or less.. or more... better not be more), I'm going to have one of those little things I see being pushed around and carried everyday at my workplace. They seem so tiny. So helpless. Their little cries make you just want to cry. I'm pretty certain every cereal bowl in my house has a chip in it from me accidentally dropping it on the counter. I'm really hoping that doesn't happen with my little one. I am equal parts excited and terrified. And I need to be honest in that. Everyone has done a great job telling me how it will be so different when it's my own child, how I'll look at them from the moment they're born and just *boom* become a mother. Apparently mothers are born and not made. That works for me, as I've received no training for this. I think as I get closer and closer to finding out what this child is.. Are you Grace or are you Connor? And who this child is... Do you look like Daddy? Mommy? Both?.... I become happier and more excited... but still equal parts terrified.

So anyways, on my agenda this Memorial Day weekend: Spend some time doing things I want to do that I know I won't have time or energy for in a few weeks:
1. SLC Prenatal Massage this AM (Have I mentioned how this was the best investment I have made during my pregnancy??? (http://www.slcprenatalmassage.com/    Tessa is AMAZING).
2. Thrift store shopping for little golden books and a bookcase. Let's Macklemore it up peeps!!
3. Gardening: now that my garden is planted (see post this weekend!), it'll be needing compost, weeding, and some TLC before the heat sets in. I also need to plant salvia and lavender in the garden to encourage the bees to come in do their thang... pollinate those cucumbers please bees! I love you, I promise! It's only the wasps I'm trying to murder.. I swear!!
4. Finish the front yard landscaping.... holy crap, we need MORE bark mulch. It's like it EATS that stuff.
5. TENT SALE at TAI PAN!!!! Can you sense my excitement?! They only do these a few times a year, and this is my absolute favorite home store. I am SO excited to find some goodies and hopefully some great deals (50-70% off! If you live in Utah and love Tai Pan, it runs through June 8th... but I'm sure the good stuff will go FAST!).
6. Party like a pregnant rockstar. Um. Yeah. This means BBQ-ing and watching the ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT season on Netflix that premieres this weekend. Maybe while having a sassy little mocktail :)

Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Nursery Update #2

Ever have one of those days where you think to yourself, "If I have to go to Home Depot ONE more time today, I'm going to have a break from reality"? Have you ever told the people at Home Depot (who know you by name and face), "If you see me here again today, just shoot me."?
That would be me today.
My morning started off fine enough, with a lovely return of third trimester morning sickness, then a trip to grab quick breakfast for the hubby and I, and a trip to Home Depot to grab more landscaping fabric (a whole other project- which I'll blog about tomorrow!). Last week, I picked up some picture hanging kits for the photo frames we'll be hanging in the nursery. Seeing as it is my husband and I's mission in life to get this nursery 100% complete by the end of this weekend, I figured we were all set.... Until I tried to put them on the actual frames this morning, ended up breaking the glass on one of the frames, and told myself "I'm not going back to that store today. No way, no how. I've got to find something around the house to make these puppies hang on the wall!".

So- I used pop can tabs and hot glue. I'm hoping they stick. Either way, I'm super excited that I did not have to go back to that dreadful store today. The picture below is my project. I used the table number seating frames from my wedding (which I picked up cheap, and spray painted then sanded to make them look shabby), with prints I found online and printed on card stock. Our theme is Beatrix Potter/ Hunca Munca/ Peter Rabbit, and I'm so excited to get the entire thing done to show it off. I also finally finished my ruffled curtain project, and am eager to get them hung and pressed.

But, for now, with a rock landscaping project going on in my backyard, Jace ripping apart the nursery, and me breaking glass/needing to pull weeds in the front yard and get some gardening done.. I'm in desperate need of some OM and am off to prenatal yoga. 31 weeks today!

I profess my love of yoga & now prenatal yoga...

Preface:
I started practicing yoga in college. As much as I'd like to say that I was this amazing introspective 22 year old who knew I needed balance between a grueling school and work schedule, taking yoga as a way to balance my mind/body connection... the reality of the matter was: I needed another PE credit, it fit into my schedule, and I figured it would be an easy A. From what I had seen, it was just a bunch of hippies laying on mats chillin' out. I thought, "honestly, I can rest and up my GPA.. sweet". Little did I know just how much yoga would change my life and the way I view what is essential to me.
I was lucky enough to have my college instructor Lar Caughlan, and let me tell you- this dude is a certified hippie. His life adventures are the stuff box office movies are made of, and the stories he used to tell in class alone would keep me intrigued enough to come back for more every week. He was a firefighter, a film maker, mountaineer, and a naturalist involved in the rehabilitation and eventual freeing of a bald eagle. He learned yoga in India and authored a book with these immensely difficult, advanced poses off cliffs, waterfalls, canyons, mountains.. He taught 4 different classes at 3 different universities each week at the age of 60+. This dude was LEGIT.
I noticed while taking the class that the hardest part of yoga was silencing my mind. I didn't understand meditation. I didn't understand relaxation. And at the time, I truly didn't know how to sit in silence with myself and my thoughts. I was 22 and ran on a constant stream of coffee, red bull, and during finals "the red eye" from the local coffee shop: 2 cups of coffee, 4 shots of espresso, a ton of sugar, and a prayer they announced while calling out my order, as in "Good God, I hope you survive this drink and I don't have to fill out paperwork if you have a heart attack".  Life was crazy, and I thought that's what I thrived on. Lar's class forced me to pause. To sit. In silence. With my type A "go, go, GOOOOO!!" personality. He challenged me to do this practice daily. I can honestly say this was one of the biggest struggles of learning yoga. I was forced to turn inward and be alone with my thoughts, with my actions, with who I was as a person, and what I truly needed in order to find balance. It was awkward, uncomfortable, and weird... but oddly fulfilling. Over time, it got easier, and became something as essential as air for me. I kept taking his classes (even though I couldn't get credit for them), weened myself off the immense caffeine, and learned that I truly need balance in my life in order to be productive. I also learned that quiet time, meditation, and daily yoga are essential for my personality type. Yoga helps me center and forget about everything that isn't of importance. So you'll find me doing yoga when I'm stressed or have a big project coming up, meditating when I need to get my head right, or just when I need to take some time to reflect inward. That hippie turned me into a quasi-hippie, and I owe him the world......

A few months ago, my OB/GYN asked me what I was doing to stay healthy during my pregnancy, and I mentioned I had just started prenatal yoga, but had only been to one class. She was very excited about this, and I wondered why. I started my prenatal yoga practice at 16 weeks pregnant, and at the time, I had no major pains nor difficulty getting into my normal yoga poses. I naively assumed that it would stay this way throughout my pregnancy... oh boy (or girl?!) was I wrong. Around 22 weeks the pain in my hips became excruciating, as I moved from my "cute little hips" to "birthing hips" (something I plan on getting back after pregnancy btw!). Nevertheless, I found the poses that were usually quite restorative, were now unbearable. Then came the back pain and lack of balance. Again, a simple modified bridge brought me to near tears with sciatic pain driving me bonkers.

Going to yoga has been amazing every week, as my teacher is dedicated to helping the class ease those aches and pains, while building strength where it's desperately needed. My teacher kicks my butt with squats, lunges, warrior and tree poses, and has really helped me to understand what muscles I need to strengthen to help me on this journey. I've also learned great breathing techniques and poses that will help support my labor, and poses to do at home throughout the week to alleviate pain.

I go to the Yoga Path studio in Draper, Utah ( www.yogapath.com ) and cannot speak more highly of this studio. The classes are small, the care is nurturing, the people I've met have been great, and my teacher, Kelly, is awesome. I don't know how I would have survived with all of these changes to my body, plus working a full time job that has me on my feet all day, without prenatal yoga. I now understand why my OB/GYN was so excited I was taking up prenatal yoga, as this stuff is the bees knees :)

Om Belly :)

-Cassandra