Whatever Will 'B', Will 'B'...

This summer has been a bit of an adventure for me. In this short summer,  I have learned a lot about life.  I have experienced the loss of a loved one, the birth of a few new best friends, and I made it to my {first} 29th birthday. This summer has given me time to reflect on how amazingly beautiful and heartbreaking life can be, and how lucky I am to be here. I have an education, a house, a wonderful family, an incredible boyfriend, and life long friends. I suppose, at my age, it is normal to start thinking about life. We are reaching so many different milestones... things we have dreamt about since childhood! I am so thankful to be reaching (or at least getting closer to) these milestones with a group of wonderful friends by my side. You've heard the song, "Que Sera, Sera"? Well, I am content in knowing that whatever will be, will be along with the people I care about the most!

In this post, I'd like to celebrate new life by talking about about a little "Baby B's" shower that I helped plan! My friend Maria is a pioneer of sorts, as she seems to be at the helm, leading us through these major life milestones! She was engaged and married first... and, most recently, she just had a baby on June 1st (I thought the baby may have had my birthday... June 28th... Maria did NOT like that prediction)!

When Maria told us she was pregnant there were tears of joy... and then when we found out she was having a girl... there were more tears, and squeals of excitement that we were truly having a "girl's lunch"!

How cute is this gender reveal scratch off card Maria gave us?!

Of course, I immediately began to think about Maria's shower, so we teamed up with her mom.  This brought us all back to high school when we would invite ourselves over Maria's house all the time! Maria mentioned she would want a Classic Winnie the Pooh theme. This is even more adorable because their last name begins with "B, and we referred to the baby as "Baby B" the whole pregnancy.  "B"s and Pooh Bear... perfect match! We painted these adorable "hunny" pots (got the idea here) ... and of course, there were plenty of laughs and snacks!

I was given pieces of wood from a friend that used them at her wedding. Kristen picked up the wood and then her husband made some cupcake tiers out of them (thank you for making my vision come to life!) I also glued tissue paper on branches to look like flower buds. I was going for a "100 Aker Wood" look.

Obsessed with Eeyore doing a headstand over there on the left!

I printed out Classic Pooh Bear characters onto white card stock and glued them onto toothpicks for simple decorations. I finally got to use my "grass" piping tip that Greg got me a while ago (after listening to me complain about how I couldn't make grass for my Truffula tree cupcakes for my Dr. Seuss themed kindergarten graduation... I make gift giving so easy for him). I found the edible bees at Walmart and piped some hives for them to sit upon (the frosting wasn't as thick as I would have liked it to be, so the hives weren't as tall).

 

 

For the centerpieces we kept it simple.  Framed quotes or images on the wood pieces, along with the "hunny" pots.

The favors were little jars of honey (Maria's mom's brilliant idea).  We topped the jar with bumblebee fabric and attached a tag with twine.  

 

I also created some games for guests to play at the table. Personally, I do not love shower games that require you to get up and do things. I like to chit chat! Maria also requested that we not play the "what's in the dirty diaper?" game or make anyone drink from baby bottles... not that I would have done that in the first place (ew)!

ugh, number 7 is supposed to be 'onesie', but I left out an 'e' on half of the cards... so 'noise' works!

Of course there were presents... and of course I wrapped mine in a super cute way ;)

 

Want to know what I got for Maria? Next blog post I'll have a wonderful baby shower DIY for you!

Here's a clue:

Any guesses?

A Bushel and a Peck

On Wednesday afternoon my nana passed away.  This is a sentence that has crossed my mind many times since then, but this is the first time I have been able to write it.

 

It wasn't sudden, she had been in and out of the hospital since the winter, but it's still so difficult to accept as a reality. I am so lucky I was able to visit with her and that we were both able to express our love for one another... as we both silently understood what the inevitable would be.  In her nana voice, that I can still hear in my head, she would say, "Shannon... you are my baby" as she held my hand and closed her eyes. This is the same voice she would use to say, "I think about you everyday", whenever we spoke on the phone. I'm worried I won't always remember that sound...

I am...was... lucky enough to be one of her three grandchildren. I was her only granddaughter, and the youngest, which I think created a special bond between us. Not only that, but before my aunt adopted me, during the times my mother couldn't take care of me, it was my nana that I lived with.  My nana, who was supposed to be done raising children, would walk me to elementary school, cook me spinach and eggs, dance the polka in the living room, let me do her hair, play restaurant, make me practice spelling tests, and sing to me... the list could really go on and on.

Nana is clearly enjoying her hair being styled!

Yesterday, when I went to her house, the place I associate as my childhood home, I felt so much happiness.  As I went around the house collecting pictures and knick knacks I felt like I was back in time, like maybe my nana was in the pantry washing dishes.  I think my favorite part was that the smells of the house were the same.  As I peeked into the sun porch, the smell reminded me of going outside on a flower tour with nana, of jump roping, and of the butterfly bush, as this was the exit we used to go out and play in the backyard together.

The attic also had the same smell.  To this day I still have dreams that involve me walking up the stairs to that attic! That's where Nana kept all her old barbies and dolls. The attic still has equal parts comfort and mystery, as I wasn't always allowed to venture up there.

 

My favorite smell, however, was when I opened the drawer that had all of her pillow cases and sheets.  I remember helping Nana make the bed as she taught me songs like, "You Are My Sunshine". When I lived with Nana I didn't have my own room, so basically we had sleepovers every night. The smell of that drawer brought back the memories of the comfort and safety I felt under the sheets and blankets, that always felt freshly washed and cool on my bare feet... my nana close by to protect me from any nightmares I may have had. Looking at the bed yesterday, I laughed because it looked so small compared to my memories... Poor Nana had to deal with my all over sleeping patterns... I was known to do 180's in my sleep when I was a kid, and would end up at the foot of the bed, but she never complained.

My nana was my best friend growing up. She taught me so many things. Not things you learn in school, but the things that help to make you who you are.  My favorite flower, favorite childhood song, favorite food... all have ties to my nana.

 

Looking through pictures I am learning more more about my nana and her life... I only wish she was here to answer the questions I have. In these pictures Nana isn't always smiling, but I love that. I know that was the serious face she would make as she said something she knew was funny... and then, after a moments pause, she'd laugh at herself. 

     

  

 

Thank you, Nana, for helping me be the person I am today. I always have your voice in the back of my mind when I make decisions, and I promise that won't change. Thank you for thinking about me everyday, and loving me so much... I hope you felt the same amount of love from me as well. I'd say I hope you were proud of me, but I already know that you were.  I'm sorry I wasn't there when you left this Earth, and I'm sorry I didn't get you home before you went... I understand the comfort your home brings, and that's all that you wanted... I hope my visits brought you some comfort.

We always talked about my wedding and you being there, and it breaks my heart you won't be there in person... When that day {finally} comes I hope you're there in spirit... And I hope I look as beautiful as you did.

       

I love you, a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.  

Lucy Niezelski December 15, 1924 - May 27, 2015

Write Your Story...

What good is a blog if you're not writing in it?

My last post was 7 months after we got our house!  It is now 17 months after we got our house, and I still haven’t been posting! Lots of things have changed, and to be honest, thinking about posting on the blog stressed me out, and made me feel guilty… we had so many things to unpack and I needed to get serious about getting a job at a public school. I couldn’t bring myself to sit down and pretend my life was in order, when it wasn’t… so the blog went into hibernation.

It is now getting close to the end winter (i hope)... unfortunately Chuckles the groundhog predicted six more weeks of cold and snow, and I have had SO many snow days.  Some of you may be thinking to yourselves, “Shannon… snow days? You work at KinderCare, how can you possibly have so many snow days… they never close?!” And that is just the thing, friends… I no longer work at KinderCare! I was able to get a job at a local public school! I am still working toward that full-time classroom job, but I AM IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL!  It is such an amazing thing, when you’re at a place in your life when you reach a goal that you have been working towards for so long.  You think about all the times you were in major freak-out mode, and realize it was all worth it (don’t try to tell me that during a freak-out, though).  Those “fall into place” moments are wonderfully calming… annnnd the snow days, that I mentioned earlier, have helped a lot too.  I have had so much time to clean, sort, and organize! My craft room is 100% up and running… and decorated to boot!

So here I am, closer to my career than I have ever been, in our house, it’s a snow day and I’m ready to write and take this blog out of hibernation (even though hibernation is meant for the winter)! I have done a lot of DIY-ing, cooking, crafting… you name it… and I can’t wait to share it all with you! Thanks for you patience, it feels good to be back... I'm ready to start writing my story again...

Enjoy this tour of the craft room!

These are the before pictures! The color of the room is closest to the bottom picture. I get so frustrated when I can't capture the true color of something on my camera!

This is my main desk, I am sitting at right now! I am constantly rearranging the shelves.

I keep crafting supplies in this cabinet, as well as the cabinet in the picture below.

This is the desk were I do nail art and keep all the makeup I don't use on a daily basis.

I keep teaching supplies in these cabinets.  These boxes from IKEA are awesome!

These are some detail shots of things in the room.

I already have plans for my next addition to the room.  I just picked up an ugly duckling filing cabinet the other day that I plan to re-paint and add to the room... I just need this snow to stop so I can start all my painting projects!

What craft projects do you have in the works? I'd love to see your craft spaces!

Bird Bath

Good News: We bought a house!

Bad News: I haven’t posted on the blog since August... eek, that's 7 months...
Good News: I just updated the blog, it’s got a whole new look… and WE HAVE A HOUSE!!

I know I've mentioned how much I wanted a house in multiple blog posts, and maybe you were sick of hearing it, but I am not going to stop the house talk anytime soon! Our house journey began with Greg downloading all the fun house apps on the iPad, like realtor.com and Zillow, in January of 2013 ... I couldn’t be bothered searching for houses that would probably be sold before we could get them because I didn’t want to be disappointed. It was when we started the pre-qualification paperwork, mid July, that I started to get excited because it was actually real… we were doing grown-up loan stuffs and everything! We looked at our first houses mid August and were officially homeowners on September 18th! When we started the house search we weren’t expecting to find anything right away, but we got really lucky… they even moved the closing date up, so the house was ours 2 days earlier than expected! We found a house in the town we wanted, one that we don’t have to do any work on, and I finally have my craft room! Perfect!

So that’s where I have been… lots of painting, not enough unpacking, and many, many "holy expletives"… because we finally have a HOUSE! (Greg would probably say, “and lots of leaving lights on in rooms you are no longer in”). 

We still have LOTS to do, but I do have one room that seems to be complete ( I can, and will, always find something else to do).  Here is our bird themed bathroom…

I bought the shower curtain rings and all the hooks from target.  When I saw them on an end cap, I had a heart attack then threw everything in my cart without looking at the prices.  This was pre-house, of course... now I have to watch my budget... bleh.  I bought the canvases at TJ Maxx, also pre-house.  (I started house buying 2-3 years ago, haha... I had so many bins I took over the shed at my parent's house.  They loved it... now they have so much space they don't even know what to do with it). I got one ball jar from my nana, one from Greg's grandmother, and one from a flea market. The Q-Tip and cotton ball jars are just recycled Bath & Body Works candle jars... my best friend has a candle obsession and saves the jars for me... they will be all over my house! I had Greg add a shelf above the cabinet so I could add the baskets for storage and still have a spot for knick-knacks... pedestal sinks are pretty, but they don't offer very much storage.  The frame is also from TJ Maxx... yep, you guessed it, bought pre-house.  I made the art inside the frame. 

 

I love this bathroom art!  I had this frame empty for a while, but couldn't think of what to put in it.  I searched online for some inspiration and found a few things similar to this, but I made this one all on my own.  Here's what it looks like as a digital file... wish I had a better printer (hear that, Greg? Add "super fancy printer" to your secret gift list on your phone)!

So that is our bathroom.  We are taking a week off from work this month, we'll be celebrating our 12 year anniversary by working on the house! So if all goes as planned, and we're not too distracted by our new couch and DVR'd shows, I will have more to show you soon!  What projects are you working on right now? 

P.S. Can you guess my favorite color?