you could shine a little light on everything around you

Things have been a little crazy lately.  Quite busy and very blessed.  Keenan started his new position and so daddy daycare is no longer in operation.  Sloane goes to grammy's all day.  She is very happy to hang out with grandma all day and grandpa on his lunch break.  It's great because Keenan goes to work early and gets off early and I go to work later and get off later.  So I get to spend the early morning getting Sloane ready and off to grammy's and Keenan gets to pick her up in the early afternoon.  I don't regret for a minute moving here, it's such a blessing (and HUGE money saver) to have Sloane in the care of her family all day long. 

Speaking of family...we have been working like fiends on Taylor's baby's nursery (wait til you see the before and after shots, it's unreal).  Everyone is goading her to choose a name, she is having as hard of a time as we did.    I don't think he will have a name until he is out of the womb and into the world.

And this is coming up soon....

designed by Kate at grey square design on Etsy (she's delightful!)

Crazy weekend, I jetted to Lawrence on Friday for Whitney's surprise 32nd birthday party (her husband is a gem, she was so surprised she cried).  On Saturday we hung out and watched KU beat Mizzou (hooray!) and Sunday brought our favorite day...the Academy Awards. I was tickled for my favorite actress evah-- Meryl (although I wanted Viola to win so much too-- definitely the best category this year).  I am slowly (much more slowly than usual, pre-baby) working my way through the nominees.  We are slated to see The Artist (art cinema) this week and My Week with Marilyn (art cinema) and The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo (red box) next week, I believe Hugo will come out soon as well. 

Oscar baby 2012

Who did you think looked smashing? I loved Viola's green gown and her natural hair!  She is seriously gorgeous, she looked like a total movie star.  Green on the red carpet is always a winner with me.

via

I did not care for Angelina's look at all.  She was so posey.  She totally ruined her aloof image.  She should be the kind of star that you should say-- "is that a slit in her dress?" in that mysterious give-me-more way.  Instead she looked so vampy.  Ick. Plus she does not look too skinny-- she looks like a SKELETON.  Seriously, this is honestly a medical problem.  It doesn't help her to be on all the best-dressed lists-- she needs help. 
 
Also this coming weekend--a swimming party, even though appearing in a bathing suit before losing all the baby weight is against my religion...I will be going to celebrate a special day for my favorite family.  And these two little guys:

4 years old, can it be?

Mr. Quinn one year ago
photo by David (daddy)...look how gorgeous Bre is minutes after giving birth.  that should be illegal people.

 Someday soon I will be able to breathe again.  I believe this, I do. 
 
title courtesy of Rob Thomas: Someday

and I've locked myself in it to think

via

I need to remember this so much.  I can barely live outside of my head lately.  My head is just this place filled with things that I should do, or should do more of, or should be perfect... 

Here's a glance inside of what keeps me awake at night, instead of dozing peacefully.





• I want to be supermom (this includes homemade meals, arts and crafts time, singing/signing/reading/bubble baths)  Even though Sloane is not yet thrilled by arts and crafts time (as evidence see above photo)
• I want to have a blissfully romantic relationship AND plan a perfect little DIY wedding. 
• I am helping my sister with her nursery, throwing her baby shower and (of course I want to DIY all of that too)
• Must execute a play kitchen for Sloane for her easter gift.  I thrifted the perfect table for it, now to completely renovate it.  Of course photograph the process too so you can scrapbook/blog/pin it later.  Try to get Keenan involved in order to enrich above stated goal of blissful romantic relationship. 
• Clean your house Shannon.
• I want to be successful at my job. (Quit thinking about all the above tasks during work hours-- but still make it home on your lunch break to feed your daughter something nutritious and wonderful)
• Wonder if my decision to not cloth diaper has resulted in the excema Sloane now has on her waist and legs. 
• Wonder if I weaned Sloane too soon and it's really the milk that's causing the excema.  Start rice milk (I heard soy milk has a lot of estrogen).  Worry about the outrageous cost of rice milk. 
• Remember that it was excema that started all of my sister's health problems.  Worry that Sloane will be asthmatic or have food allergies. 
• Think about how I still haven't been doing everything I can/should to lose the last 10lbs of baby weight. 

Perfectionism.  It's stealing my sleep.  And wrecking my real life.  I just wish I knew how to would stop.  My mother is SO much the same.  I worry that I will pass all of this self-pressure on to my daughter.  I want to stop the cycle for myself but also for my daughter.  Why shouldn't I see my life as half-full? 

title courtesy of ani difranco: shy

Self-appraisal often makes me sad

When I think about my wedding I think more about what I don't want (and admittedly what I did before) than what I do want.  The thing I am most careful with in my mind is color.  I wanted this to be a non-issue (repeating the sins colors of the past) but then after some unavoidable scheduling changes we ended up planning our wedding for the fall (different month than my other wedding but same season).  And there it is again-- "fall colors".

So we went shopping this weekend, and while Sloane snoozed in the stroller I picked up this flower girl dress.  And immediately the gold/champagne/ivory laden thoughts entered my mind.  But what other neutral can a girl use in fall-- surely not pink or white- those are too spring/summery, black & grey are too depressing....So I am hoping that the cranberry and peacock really take over the gold/ivory neutrals (I must strike champagne though, it simply has too much baggage) and add that panache to show that fall isn't just rust/pumpkin/chocolate.

So I agonized for a moment and then rang it up and I am so happy that I did, this picture truly doesn't captrue the adorable crochet on the bodice. Also I told myself I won't let the ghosts of colors past ruin the present. 



via Dillards.com

    
I admit...it's a little elegant for a tent.  So I thought I needed something for Sloane and me, to make us look a little more "at home wedding".  I settled on my favorite accessory of my day to day life.  The bridal party will be in hues and prints of cranberry and peacock but Sloane and I need a different color to add to our ivory/gold.  I finally settled on this look that I saw on stylemepretty.com .  Perfection.



enter the mustard yellow cardigan



In other news, I found my dress. I can't post it here though--- that would be too risky. I am hoping these sneak peeks will suffice.

from the top of my head...(minus the feather, with a mustard rosette in there via this seller on etsy.com)



cap sleeves, I've always wanted them, it's shown in white I am getting ivory



the inspiration--it's pretty close to a match-- miss hepburn in funny face

I would LOVE  NEED suggestions on shoes!

title courtesy of lyrics of Fred Astaire's funny face

suddenly you're mine

Miss Sloane Jillian,

14 months on the 14th...it doesn't seem that long ago in many ways but in other ways it seems like we've known you forever. 

You've got new skills--

You can "cheers" with your milk cup, drink through a straw (which pleases you)

so big, now she LOVES to hydrate

You say "good girl" (guh gahl), raise your fist in the air when you see a jayhawk, tell uncle Chance and uncle Matt's basketball players to "go go go!" 

You identify your head, eyes, nose, mouth, ear, toes, hair and tummy.  You like to brush your (mostly non-existent hair) and apply chapstick and hand cream.  Also if we ask you if you need medicine you will give a great fake cough. 



my daughter wearing a "boys sleeper" and a little mermaid bib --my tiny paradox

 Your favorite foods are enchilada casserole, guacamole, toast, goldfish, cheerios, macaroni w/ squash, chili waffles, and oatmeal with fruit.  Your grandma and aunt Tay introduced you to oatmeal raisin cookies for which you will say and simultaneously sign cookie, please ("cook peas").  You are totally done nursing (as of February 1st) although you still sign for it sometimes when you are sad you are happy to drink from a cup instead. 

You love to "sing" and dance and say "hi" to everyone at church.  You put both hands together to say your prayers and laugh when anyone ends the prayer with "amen". 

You can stand and take steps but you aren't really that enamored by walking yet, so we don't say that you are walking because you really aren't quite yet (despite your daddy's trying). 

The TV will catch your attention if-- it is a commercial with a dog or a baby (who you will make a grouchy face and whimper for) which we then say "oh is that baby crying?", Elmo, Star & Nina from the goodnight show on sprout, KU basketball so that grandma can sing you "rock chalk jayhawk" and you can dance. 

Your favorite things to play with are dishes, pretend food, books, baby dolls, Dudley the monkey, when daddy pretends to be a monster and you squeal and crawl away furiously, you love roaring at people to "scare them",  hiding under blankets or pillows, and playing with your little Sesame Street figures and Playskool Little People (is that still acceptable that they are named that?). 

You are almost always happy and you are wonderful.  Thank you for filling my heart and days with joy.

------ on a totally separate note, it's "wedding wednesday" and I will actually have something to show for it tomorrow.

title courtesy of Aqualung: Brighter than Sunshine 

that's my fun day

Wedding Wednesday this week was sadly preempted by migraine Monday (which lasted until this morning). So this weekend the agenda includes deciding the fate of our honeymoon and working on our budget.  

Speaking of budgets, a few weeks ago I was so happy to find all of this stuff on a Tuesday at the local Goodwill.  I have plans to include the milk glass in the wedding decor.  I spray painted the glass bud vase and made another Valentine mailbox for a coworker.  The lamp will be spray painted plum for Sloane's impending transition from nursery to toddler room and the apron (fabric on the left) and vintage jewelry box (sunny yellow hard hinged box on the right) are just adorable things to keep.  I always think the best things are found at the thrift stores on Monday-Thursday. 



I have plans for the lot of you






title courtesy of Ms. Lauper: Manic Monday

remember this in your heart

I started with 3 mailboxes from Target's One Spot plus these three relics from the Goodwill



Then I spraypainted the candlesticks and used my gorilla glue to adhere the mailboxes



Now there are little places to put notes and sweets for Valentines Day

This is one of the easiest and cheapest little DIYs I've done lately.  I orignally found it on The Anderson Crew blog, but I've seen it cropping up on Pinterest a lot too.  

The total cost for the project was about 2-3 each.  I had to go back for more mailboxes because my mom wants one of her own, and because they are only a dollar!  I love that tourquoise one!   

title courtesy of the Indigo Girls: dead man's hill 

you'll put me on the spot

Yesterday was wedding Wednesday...here's a run down of what I have completed.

• Got several quotes for event tents.  So excited that the company that was the most reasonable has striped tents--- no yellow striped like I wanted but blue and purple striped.  I need to see the purple, if it's dark/plum it's a go-- if not dark blue it is!
• Finished the guest list (not a simple task when half of the list depends on someone who doesn't make Wedding Wednesday a priority, and there is college basketball on)
• Got serious about the color palette



via



via



via

I think the peacock and the cranberry will be the main colors that we will work from and then there will be some hints of bright mustard and plum/eggplant (especially if the tent is dark purple striped).

Hooray for some small successes on my first Wedding Wednesday.

via

For next week I am going to do these as my DIY.  I am planning to hand cut them out of stiff cardboard.  We shall see how it turns out.  

Project "skinnier" started too.  It was even less fun than the wedding planning, Jillian Michaels is not a joke. It picks right back up after work today.

title courtesy of Lisa Loeb (remember her?): Waiting for Wednesday