One Year

Baby SevPrez is one! I feel like I really accomplished something. I'm awash with total satisfaction. Then, in the next moment, our lives flash before my eyes. She's one, that's what a year felt like... Soon she'll be two, then three, then seven, then 12, then off to college. It's as exciting as it is scary. I'm excited about who she will be, but scared of time passing too fast to really feel it.

But on to more frivilous things... Yesterday we had her party at our house. Just family, which for us is a gaggle of people. The weather cooperated, which is really something for New Jersey in late July. On the day she was born I enjoyed an amazing 5th floor view of a thunderstorm as I lay in bliss after finally getting an epidural. Yesterday thunder rumbled as the coffee brewed, and storm clouds were all around, but we had no more than a light spritz as we served cake inside.

The grandmas brought food (and the lion's share of everything from Costco), we grilled steaks, and I made the cake. The little one knew she was the star when we sang to her, but she was not too excited about cake. Maybe she could tell it was vegan chocolate cake (but it had full butter/full sugar icing, I'm not a monster). She did, however, go to town on some watermelon slices. If I hadn't taken it away from her she would have eaten the green part. What a charater.

As predicted, her favorite gift was a piece of wrapping paper. Ah, to be one.

Come On Knock On Our Door...

Because I finally painted it. After much hemming and hawing on what would be the most excellent color, I went with the same dark grey that we painted the floor in the back room. Which means we had the paint sitting in our garage the whole time. Which also means that I completed this project on a Monday night after work because it required zero trips to the store for supplies. Score.


I think the house looks $5000 nicer with just this little change. It creates a much richer, more loved entrance to the house. 


This is the summer of curb appeal improvements. I'll post more on all the landscaping Mr. SevPrez has been doing. Our house is radically nicer looking from the outside. I can hear the sighs of relief from our neighbors.

Dye-ry

Today my niece came over to make dip-dyed curtains with me. I've seen the trend here and there. Lots on pinterest and at Anthropologie, the bastian of overpriced bohemian style, a set of dip-dyed panels are on sale for $188.

I can honestly say that this project was proof perfect that bloggers are liars. Everything is easy, quick and neat. And edited. This project was a beast! Had we more experience with fabric dye the end product would have more clearly matched our vision, but we were happy with the end product. Still, it was a two-lady job that involed cleaning of buckets, boiling of large pots of water, stringing of make shift clotheslines, hosing down of bleeding drapes, dumping of dark pools of water in far corners of our lawn. We probably used 14 pairs of latex gloves. And still got drips of indigo dye all over our bodies. Still, it was fun. So fun that we dip-dyed one of Baby SevPrez's onesies, tie-dyed a set of old pillow cases, and threw in a bracelet just for fun.

Here's a photographic chronicle of our dyeing adventures.

Messy.


We rigged up quite the scenario.

The sagging clothesline.

 

This is more how I envisioned the curtains looking.

Pretty cool though, we really liked the tie-dyed effect.

Here there are hanging up in our newly "Dark Teal" foyer.

Little Feet

Passed out in the car seat after a fun afternoon.

They might actually not be so little... Mr. SevPrez jokingly refers to me as Chief Big Toe (I do have a big big toe), so I dubbed the little one Chief Little Big Toe.

Funny names aside, she started walking on Monday, July 9th. Two steps at a time, a couple times. Now I believe she's up to 4. Very, very exciting.

My mom would also like me to add that she's signing "more" and "all done."

Today three generations of SevPrez women had an impromptu summer day of fun. Mom met me at the craft store where I was picking up dye for an upcoming project. Then we went shopping and had lunch. Chief Little Big Toe didn't sleep a wink. She was just too excited to miss a thing.


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Scribbles From An Earlier Self

New mantra.

I was flipping through my little scribble pad and was so pleased to find these little drawings and remember how I was feeling when I made them. Further proof that even when you feel like what you are doing is ugly/dumb/pointless/worthless, one day you will look back and be glad your previous self made a record marking where you were.

In order to get full, you have to be empty.



Riding a commuter bus without headphones can be like staring into the void.

Garden Update

The tomatoes are growing like crazy! And we have a couple tiny jalapenos. My friend Treehouse Chatter came down and got the full tour, and snapped this picture.