10 Years

Is there anything more magical than your senior year of high school?  Think about it - all the hope, ambition, and idealism you can imagine is all wrapped up into one little person, staring the world head on with a naive smile and a miniskirt. 

Today I went to part of my high school's 10 year reunion celebration. Due to some scheduling conflicts we were only able to attend the Family Picnic part. Only one other member of the class of 2004 was there, but that was ok. We had a great lunch. Madeleine played and watched other kids. It was a good time.  Being back at Trinity left me feeling nostalgic and contemplative. I spent the rest of this afternoon thinking about the last 10 years and how my life is completely different than I would have imagined.  I'm glad it's different, by the way. I love my family and my job!

So let's compare 2004 to 2014:

Favorite color:                    Pink                              Green

Favorite TV Show:              Gilmore Girls                 Grimm

Favorite Book:                    The Davinci Code         I don't have time to read books :(

Saturday afternoon:            Studying                       Playing with Madeleine

Cutest thing a guy can do:  Southern accent           Wear Madeleine   

Most looking forward to:     College!                         Nap time 

When I graduated high school, I was excited to go to Furman, become bestest friends with my freshman roommate, join a sorority, and I infamously said, "I want to meet a guy who makes Nancy 5 syllables long!"  That would've been a serious accent!  My life plan went like this: perform in New York (obviously this would be easy because I'm fantastic, and no I would not be waiting tables, thank you very much), retire from a life of performing to teach high school choir, never have children (they take up your precious time, the planet is overpopulated, etc), and somehow I was going to play a large role in world peace.  I hope you're laughing with me at my former self!  It's a good thing that college happened, so I could grow up and change.  I'm pretty sure my ego needed a sift kick in the behind, too!  

But there was something about being back at Trinity that made me swell with a little pride today and have that "I can conquer the world" feeling again today. Who knows? Maybe I will help find world peace!  I'll start by nursing my child (my second favorite person in the world), having dinner with my husband (my favorite person), and treating everyone as kindly and fairly as I can throughout the day at work.  Would I change any of that? No way.  

Date Night!

Last night Joseph and I went on a date. Why is this news worthy, you ask?  It was our first date since Madeleine was born in December. She'll be 4 months old on Sunday, so it's been quite a while!  We dropped off Madeleine with my mom and dad at 6:45 and headed to Funky Monkey Wine Company.

Last December, my brother asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told him that we wanted a date night and that Joseph loves sushi. Funky Monkey is one of Jack's favorite restaurants, and I can tell why!

We had a wonderful meal of sushi, goat cheese bruschetta, and a great salad. (Any time there are nuts and apples in a salad I'm a happy girl!)

Our wonderful waiter shared with us that his girlfriend was due with their first baby, a little boy, last night.

After dinner we headed back to my parents' house to pick up Madeleine and have GiGi's cupcakes. Their Oreo ones are amazing!!

The Nursery

Shortly after we moved into this house, I started imagining what a nursery would look like in the second bedroom.  I had this light teal, ocean-themed room planned out in my mind.   Above the crib, I'd hang  whale decal with his/her name spelled out in the water splash coming from its blow hole.  You can see one here.

Well, once I found out we were having a little girl, my delightfully unisex nursery plan came crashing down amongst the excitement of tutus, ruffles, and pink polka dots!  (Really, who can resist pink polka dots??)  So I came up with a new plan, centered around a tutu crib skirt.  My mother-in-law, Chris, had been asking about making something for the nursery.  What she really wanted to make was curtains, but I felt that curtains would make her window look too busy since it already has blinds and a cornice box.  Then, I saw a pink tutu crib skirt on Pinterest.  Of course, it came from Pottery Barn and cost about a bazillion dollars!  Chris made an absolutely beautiful one for us that I think looks even better and can stay on Madeleine's bed through her toddler years until she needs a big kid bed!

Over the course of the next few months, we gathered together the usual supplies: a glider from Babies R Us, a changing table/dresser I found at Once Upon a Child, and a Whatnot bookshelf from my old bedroom.  My Aunt Sally gave us two cute pictures that matched our bedding set (Cocalo Taffy).   I used Cocalo Taffy wall decals to decorate the cornice box and the dresser.  One of my favorite pieces in Madeleine's room is the horse clock.  Our friend, Peter, carved it with his grandfather as a boy!  It's very sentimental and beautiful!

After Madeleine was born, I pulled out a few more things that I wanted to hang on the walls.  I even pulled out the hammer and nails to hang them up!  This was in January, people.  Guess what?  I JUST put them on the walls this past weekend!   I'd like to thank two people who are responsible for helping me do this - Aunt Sharon and Lucy MacLeish.  Aunt Sharon and Uncle John popped by for a visit and weighed in on where to put the pictures, which was helpful since I am not the best at visualizing.  Next weekend, Lucy will be taking some professional photos of our little one.  Her work is amazing, and I can't wait to see all the photos of our cutie!  You can check out her work, here.

And just because...
Here's our little M&M - 100 days old today!