Beach Bonfire

The girls and I were invited to a beach bonfire last weekend. It wasn't a convenient time for us (we typically go to church on Saturday nights), but all I could think about were the beach bonfires I viewed on 90210 during my youth and said, "count us in!"

 

There are very few activities as "California" as a beach bonfire. Last weekend marked the first of the summer so all of California had the same idea it seemed. The beach was packed. Tents and canopies were shoulder to shoulder with each other. People congregated in their camps, cooking and soaking up the last hour of sun.

My girls thought it was the coolest thing to cook over fire. Questions like, "if we touch it, will it burn our hands off?" made me a bit nervous, but Beatrice did really well keeping a safe distance from the heat while she cooked. And once she got started, she cooked everything.

She loved cooking all of our hotdogs, but the marshmallow roasting was her favorite.

 

Penelope was not a fan of s'mores. I'm not either, ick. 

She preferred rolling in the sand in other people's camps.

We stayed long enough to get sand under our nails, smoke on our clothes, and marshmallow goo in our hair. Apparently there really isn't a more "California" activity on the first weekend of summer because the beach was getting rowdy as the sun went down. Music was getting louder, surfers were getting drunker, and the beach was an obstacle course of dugout sand fire pits. The girls were loving the raucous activity, but it was time for us to go.

We loved our first beach bonfire experience and cannot wait to do it again!

Master Bedroom Tour

Recently I totally redecorated our master bedroom. I wish I thought to take a before picture, but I didn't. Imagine lots of brown, red, and gold. This, of course, is the after.

It took me forever to decide on the duvet cover. Originally I wanted something with a wide yellow and white stripe. I found the perfect duvet at West Elm, but once I saw the Ikat (above), I couldn't decide. I went with the gray Ikat (obviously) and haven't regretted it once!

I am still in search of real art (instead of portraits of my children) for over the bed, but for now the portraits remain. I took the photos on the left and the right, my friend Sara Rose took the one in the middle. Canvases ordered thru Canvas People.

When I ordered the Ikat bedding, I decided I would make wide yellow and white striped curtain panels to incorporate some of my original design plans. My mother in law went to the fabric store with me and talked me into something totally different. I'm so glad she did because I love it. It's another Ikat print, but I figure Ikat is the new chevron and you can't have too much of either. Right?

If you're getting the idea that our room is really small, it is. It's really, really small. We managed to squeeze our giant furniture into it though with a tiny bit of space to walk around. For this reason, I try really hard to always make the bed and never let piles of clothes/books/junk accumulate. Small messes in small rooms make everything look even smaller and more claustrophobic. Ignore the small collection of things that do not go together on that dresser...photos of my newborn girls, a broken Tiffany lamp, an oscillating fan, and a leather journal. 

In search of more yellow things for this room, I came across this wood plank fabric and knew that I needed it. I made a simple quilt for the end of the bed. It's weird, warm, and quite possibly my favorite thing in the room.

Actually no, my favorite thing in the room is my DIY plastic elephant taxidermy. I made these a few months ago and they turned out exactly as I envisioned.

I bought a plastic toy elephant in the Toys R Us dollar bin, had my friend's husband saw him in half, glued each of his halves to cheap wooden plaques (Hobby Lobby), and spray painted everything metallic silver. I love, love, love this guy (and his bottom).

My nightstand:

JD's nightstand. Clearly I am more sentimental and read more...

Here is the other side of the room.

And that's it, our little love nest. It is tiny, but feels fresh and bright with the new linens and decor. There is a tiny closet that JD uses (not pictured) near the bedroom door, I use the larger one in Beatrice's room next door. We did the best we could with the little space we have and are pretty happy with how it turned out!

Victory!

After my last post about the failed sunsuit, I was on a mission to prove that I could sew. I found a cute apron knot dress pattern and was determined to complete it without any hiccups.

It turned out perfectly! I'm so happy. Beatrice loves it. I did it. Yay me!

Not Quitting My Day Job

Have you ever wanted to be really good at something, but just weren't? It doesn't matter how hard you practice and try, you just can't seem to master it? That's me with sewing. I'm not bad at all of my sewing projects. I am actually pretty good with clothing patterns and simple undertakings like bibs and appliques. But I've been sewing for long enough that I should be really good at constructing and creating all of the things I put under my presser foot.

But alas, I'm not.

I have been wanting to make Penelope a sunsuit for a few weeks now. I found a few online printable patterns, but my printer wouldn't cooperate and I ended up with really tiny, askew shapes instead of workable pattern pieces. I've studied enough tutorials and have made plenty of simple dresses with my own stash of patterns that I felt confident I could make one without a pattern.

I used an outfit I already had as a template and worked on her sunsuit at night for a week. It was simple and came together easily. I had most of the outfit completed when I realized that it looked really big. I tried it on Beatrice and it totally fit her. Hmph. Undeterred, I trimmed down the sides and reconstructed everything. Still huge.

It's not good. The stride is really long and has a weird bunching effect. The open back is too low cut. The ruffle in the front is too high and frilly. The sides are narrow and loose. I messed up the whole thing and I can't entirely figure out how or where I went wrong. I am so upset about it. The wasted fabric!!

It looks really stupid on Beatrice, as you can see, but you should see it on Penelope. Oh my, it looks like a weird, huge potato sack with ruffles. I laughed. And then I cried. Not really. I still want to try to salvage it into a wearable outfit for Penelope, but I don't know where to begin. I will be purchasing a sunsuit pattern at Joann's immediately.

Ugh, why can't I just be good at this??? It has so much potential, dontcha think?

Nice To See You Too

I love nap time. It's a nice 2 to 3 hour break from the girls in the middle of the day for me to clean, prep dinner, and sew/crochet/online shop. I think most stay at home moms appreciate the break that nap time provides and relish the time apart, however they choose to spend it.

After my break though, I'm ready to see my babies. I bound up the stairs at the first signs of stirring from their rooms, ready to welcome them with snuggles and snacks. I can't wait to hold them and hear all about their dreams. Every single day though, I'm greeted with this:

A really grumpy girl who's not as happy to see me as I am to see her.

She wakes up crying and continues to do so for another 20 minutes. "Do you want a snack? Did you poop? Did you have a bad dream? Do you want me to rock you?" I prod her for answers, but all she does is cry and say, "back to bed." When I put her back in the bed, she flips out.

I hold her.

She hates it.

 

Is it me? I'm beginning to take it personally...