The Most Uncomfortable and Enjoyable Countdown of My Life

Posted on December 11, 2012 by Kaitlyn in Featured | 5 Comments
At our local Christmas tree lighting after a wonderful yoga class.

At our local Christmas tree lighting after a wonderful yoga class.

This week marks 32 weeks of pregnancy. It’s hard to believe how fast the entire experience has gone by and how soon my daughter will be at home with my husband and I. Aside from the crazy sickness and unbelievable exhaustion in the beginning months I have had a fairly easy pregnancy so far, for that I am so grateful! Of course in the past couple of months there has been the random swelling of my feet, ankles and legs leaving me feeling more like a tree trunk than a beautiful glowing mom to be, but for the most part things aren’t too bad.

There really is no feeling like being pregnant. People ask me all the time “what does it feel like when she moves?”. Well, honestly there is no way to describe it, it is like nothing i’ve ever felt in my life, I feel blessed to be able to experience it. I have bonded so much with my daughter and we have been through a lot together already as well. All of that gushy stuff aside, I am soooo ready to have my body back to myself.

The things I miss the most are my skinny jeans, heels, and an occasional after work cocktail. I know the skinny jeans might take a little while to get back into and the heels won’t be any more practical carrying around an infant than a giant pregnant belly, but they will be much more of an option once she is here! I have already started designing her birth announcements and picked out outfits for her first photoshoots. I have plans for getting my body in better shape than before I got pregnant and I am so eager to just be a mom.

So, as much as I am enjoying the closeness with my daughter I am so excited for her to arrive. These last 8 weeks will hopefully go smoothly and quickly, although it feels like it’s been December forever already. Thank you to all of you that tweet me to check in on me and the baby and for all of your support so far. I am looking forward to a couple of months off of work and Blog Trends to spend time with my new daughter and my husband. 8 weeks to go!

 

Gift Ideas For Crafters: Craftsy Classes

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Kaitlyn in Featured, Style | 1 Comment

I have decided that I will do a series of posts highlighting some fun gift ideas for the creative and crafty ones on your holiday shopping list. Sometimes these people can be the toughest to shop for because, by the look of their crafting spaces, it seems like they already have EVERYTHING. I have put together some ideas for some great gift ideas that your beloved crafter probably doesn’t have and would really enjoy.

Craftsy Classes

First up is a personal favorite of mine, classes from Craftsy.com! I had signed up a year ago when I was interested in getting started with sewing. I had just about no experience, no knowledge of terms or techniques and minimal understanding of my machine. I ended up signing up for the Sewing Studio with Diana Rupp and I was so impressed. The class consists of 16 lessons with everything from sewing clothing and zippers to pillows and general understanding of my machine. This particular class I felt was a bit more suited to beginners but definitely offers a lot to an intermediate sewer.

Some of the other sewing classes offered by craftsy are Jean-ius!, focused on constructing the perfect jeans, Plus-Size Pattern Fitting & Design, Beginner Serging, Design Your Own Handbag and tons more.

Types of Classes Offered On Craftsy

If sewing isn’t your crafters thing then Craftsy offers a variety of classes in a number of fields. Some of the other areas to flex your creative muscles are in Cake Decorating, Crocheting, Food Craft, Home & Garden, Jewelry, Knitting, Paper Crafts, Quilting and Weaving.

If you are not sure what class to get for someone, you can always send them a gift card for them to decide on their own. I just did this for my mother for Christmas. She is very interested in cake decorating and it is something I also want to learn. I purchased a gift card for her to select the class she wants to do so that we can follow along together.

Benefits of Craftsy Classes

Some of the biggest benefits to Craftsy that I have found are the easy interactive tools and the ability to access the class at any time. Once you have purchased a class your lessons exist forever. You can go back and watch them any time you want to, they never expire, amazing right?

Another great feature is the ability to ask class questions. If you are just plain stuck on a section you can pop into the class question section and search previous questions or ask your own. The instructor of the course as well as other class participants can chime in to help you.

Once you have made something you are particularly proud of you can also share your projects with the class. I found some great sewing inspiration from the projects shared in my sewing class, maybe once I get something just the way I want it i will share my own.

Craftsy Workshops

Another discovery I just made over at Craftsy is their workshop section. Craftsy Workshops are tutorials from amazing designers that include the pattern, instructions, and step-by-step photos. They have everything from scarves to soap making. This is definitely on my list to try after the cake decorating class!

Stay tuned for more gift ideas for crafters!

Celebrating Baby Girl

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Kaitlyn in Parenting | Leave a comment

I have to start by saying I have the best friends and family anyone can ask for. My mom did such an amazing job planning my baby shower and everyone was so generous helping out and offering gifts for baby girl. My husband and I got so many great things to get us started with our first child, she will be arriving sometime in the beginning of February.

We have a great start to her library. Instead of cards, we asked that people sign the inside of a book. This was such a great idea because not only does she have some awesome books, they are all signed with love from people she will grow up around.

The games we played were simple, and one in particular was to help my husband and I discover some new baby girl names. We asked people to come up with as many names as they could that start with the first letter of their own names. We timed them for 2 minutes and the ones with the most names won our prizes. It was fun for everyone and we ended up with a stack of papers with some new name options.

My neighbor also put together an adorable diaper cake for us to display. It matched the theme of my plates and our half chocolate and half vanilla cake. To add something special to the cake my mom ordered the most precious babies made of fondant. They were so detailed and gave me so many ideas for photo shoots to do with my own daughter come February.

After an amazing day the entire evening was spent trying to organize all of these new things into her new nursery. Getting her nursery together before the baby shower was one of the smartest things I could have done. I am growing increasingly more tired and I doubt I would have had the energy to deal with all of the clothes and products if I didn’t have somewhere to put them.

My husband and I are so grateful to everyone, now if only I can find the energy to express that in my thank you cards!

Rant: Why Buying My Crib Set From Target Was a Terrible Mistake

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Kaitlyn in Parenting | 4 Comments

I live in the Berkshires here in Western Mass. We have a decent sized target, not two levels but big enough. I had seen an adorable crib and matching dresser on display, and it is still on display. I decided that was the one I wanted, online it had additional pieces I could buy like end tables and a hutch for the dresser.

My mom was generous enough to buy me the dresser and crib. After going to our local target to pick up the crib and dresser we got it home only to discover the crib was cracked along the entire top of the wood. No problem, we’ll just have them order another one for us to replace it, right? WRONG….

Target cannot order items into the store for customers and you cannot have items shipped from online to your local store either. Our option was to return it for a refund, then order the new crib online, have it shipped to our home and then the manager offered to refund the shipping charge after all of that. All in all it would be another 1-2 weeks before the crib arrived, hopefully in one piece. My mother ended up driving almost an hour away to a place in New York where the sales tax is higher to get the crib.

Next, I was interested in ordering the hutch online to go with my dresser since I have a small space with no closet it would be perfect! Well this hutch has been unavailable online or in stores for about 2 months now with no indication of how to contact someone about getting one. Part of the reason for buying this set was because of the hutch… which I am now not able to get.

I had held off on the mattress because I had it on my registry for my baby shower and I was not sure if it would be gifted. I didn’t get it so I had checked online to see if my local target had it in stock, sure enough they had one! I went up and checked again at the front desk, they said they had one in stock. After searching for it I found someone to help me, they said it should be out there and after a while it dawned on me that the one in stock is the one in the crib that is set up for display.

They cannot sell the display model, they cannot order one for you and I cannot have it shipped to the store for free like I can with any other department store. They are not getting anymore in on their next truck so I am advised to check back in a couple of weeks and hope for the best.

I am just shocked that the set they are promoting on an end cap is so incredibly difficult to actually purchase all of the pieces for. This set is exclusive to Target it seems, unfortunately, so I am forced to wait it out or pay more than the $109 to have it shipped to my house from online. Needless to say I will NOT be shopping with Target for any big purchases in the future.

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