Scents and Sensibilities

Pete is allergic. To everything. He recently went on a gluten-free white fish and potato diet thanks to his new homeopathic vet, which has made him seem a lot perkier and his skin is finally not weeping every other day. I recently realized that he is allergic to scented sprays, like Febrese, which I spray on the carpets almost daily. The fact that it's taken me this long to realize this makes me really sad, but I digress. Better late than never.

I researched options for natural home sprays and I came up with one that doesn't seems to hit any of Pete's known allergies and it makes the place smell even better than the stuff you buy at Target because it's not all weird chemicals. Here's my recipe:

* 1 oz gin (it smells like Christmas!)...you can also use rubbing alcohol or vodka
* 6 oz filtered water
* 20 – 40 drops of essential oil: peppermint is my fave (Bonus: it keeps bugs away)

Mix all of the ingredients together and spray away...but not into anyones' eyes...it's all fun and games until someone gets spritzed in the eye. Shake well each time before you spritz.I put this spray in a vintage plant spritzer that I bought at a garage sale, but a regular spray bottle would work too.

Feeling Thankful

I haven't been the greatest pregnant person. In fact, I have probably been one of the worst I can think of with all of the whining and complaining and utter denial. In fact, this whole time, I was certain that I would lose this baby despite what doctors told me each time, so I'm going to file the experience under self preservation. Done.

Today (I wrote this on Sunday), Dan came home from softball and was the happiest I've ever seen him. He is very excited to meet Amelia and, after much deliberation, decided to shave the beard he's been growing because he did think it would feel good against the baby's face. So sweet.

He took me to Honey's for lunch in Northern Liberties and it was a perfect day. If you haven't been there, you're totally missing out...they call it Southern Jewish food, which is the perfect combination of my sensibilities and Dan's heritage. You seriously can't order anything there that isn't amazing and it's also really inexpensive. I suggest the mac n cheese and the matzah ball soup. See...Southern Jewish. How can you even go wrong?

Dan has already picked out the shirt that he'd like to wear in the hospital for photos. He actually went out yesterday and bought it special. Man...I love that guy. I'm about to make one to wear that is inspired by a shirt that Nicole S. wore to my house on Friday. Let us be vain until we can be no more.

Love
Jes

Sweet Sweet Escapism

I made a deal with myself to blog at least once a day so I'm writing this Sunday afternoon and posting on Monday. Right now I'm most likely being induced. I'm terrified, but I won't tell anyone that beforehand because I HATE advice. Always have. So instead of thinking about it, I've decided to escape for a bit and set my house up in a nice way that will make me smile when I get home from the hospital beginning with a cute table scape. (Yes, I do realize that this will be the least of my worries, but just go with it for me.)

I LOVE a good table scape. To me, the tablecloth is a clean canvas for a beautiful story to be told. While preparing for my wedding, I kept going back to this look from Once Wed. I was literally obsessed with it for months, but at the time, I couldn't find a way to work it into my wedding with the budget at hand. So today, as I set the stage for a whirlwind adventure to begin, I used it as my main inspiration.
The result is obviously pared down, not outside and taken by my phone since I'm camera-less, but I think the colors come through well and I already have returned to the kitchen several times to look at it. It makes me so happy. I grew the dahlias and used some of the flowers from my anniversary bouquet to make the arrangement in the same jewel toned colors as my inspiration table. The vintage tablecloth is one of my proudest ebay finds and I layered it with cuttings from an old frayed quilt that my aunt gave me in hopes that I could rework it into something. I usually use them as pseudo doilies under things and there are a few under pumpkins on my front porch at the moment. (Apparently I'm 86 because I have a bad case of lace doily fever).

It's good to escape sometimes...now on to reality. Wish me luck.

Love
Jes

I Can Hear The Bells!

In my family, we like to pile on the big events like graduations, births and weddings and cram them all into tiny bits of time. It makes life more exciting I think. So, in the spirit of celebration, my sister is getting married on October 29. I seriously can't wait. This summer, she asked me to make thank you gifts for the moms that were inspired by the vintage brooch bouquet that she had made and what you see above is the final result---taken by my phone since I don't have a camera (gasp!). I made them using this tutorial from Fancy Pants Weddings. While I wouldn't say it was the easiest DIY I've ever embarked on, I can certainly say that it was one of the most fun.

I sourced the brooches from Ellis Antiques, Columbus Mart and I used a few of my great grandmother's that I had. I'm totally making these again in the future since it makes for a wonderful centerpiece that doesn't die, or in my case, result in ants crawling around your house---ants love dahlias! who knew!?

Happy Friday.

Love,
Jes

If You Could Be Anywhere...

Forgive me for the cliche that skips hand-in-hand with "If you could spend the day with anyone...who would it be?" (Douglas Coupland...duh). The thought popped into my head as I've been feeling like more and more of a shut in. At 41 weeks pregnant, it would appear that NO, I am not allowed to go for a walk by myself in Northern Liberties, NO, I am not allowed to wander the rows of "trashtiques" by myself at the Columbus Mart and No, I am not allowed to take the NE Corridor train into Manhattan to try out for the next season of Design Star. Jeez, Dan, what a killjoy.

The worst no of all, however, has been keeping away from Terrain. My end-all, be-all, "if you could be anywhere in the world where would it be?" locale. I know. Maybe it's lame to want to go to a store instead of, say, Versaille or somewhere equally as esthetically impressive. Terrain is tangible to me and it always fills my mind with fresh ideas. And as a poor traveler, I've come to the conclusion that I don't need to fly far away when my brain is so full of amazing thoughts. Man, I can't wait to go there again...

Here's hoping your life is enjoying a bit more autonomy. And here's to knowing that being a temporary shut-in is totally worth it.

Love,
Jes

Crowning Glory

When I met my husband, I was going through a really intense fashion phase that involved lots of polyester, stubby fat neck ties (a Melissa B inspiration) and hair that I could sit on when I rode the 1/9. Thanks to time, multi-vitamins and my inability to successfully make appointments, my hair has reached the bottom of my back and within the year will probably be sat upon at some point. This, I find awesome.

In the midst of DIY summer, where I attempted to make everything from scratch including 6 vats of pickles, a new dress and baby mobiles, I came across the idea to create my own shampoos and conditioners. I had wanted to do this with my fashion students at some point, but never got around to it. Also, I like that it's green and is customizable, plus, it can be unbelievably easy and rewarding as most prairie-style DIY projects are. Here's the first recipe I tried and, let me tell you, I'm impressed. (I made sure to use Dr. Bronner's castille soap for the liquid soap as it's pretty pure and doesn't contain weird chemicals that will yield three-eyed fish in our future)

Specifically, here's my modified recipe:
-8oz. distilled spring water
-4 tbsp. liquid castille soap
-3 tablespoons dried/crushed lavendar (I had this in my garden, but you can buy it in health food stores or craft stores...just make sure its organic)
-3 tablespoons dried/crushed rosemary (also had this in my garden)

1. Bring water to a boil
2. Place herbs in a strainer (the kind with very small holes or mesh)
3. In the bottle you'll use for your shampoo (I used an old glass vanilla bottle), add the castille soap.
4. Make herb water by holding the strainer of herbs over a container with a lid. Pour boiling water over the herbs and squeeze out any excess water into the new container. Make sure no renegade herbs got into your herb water. Cover and let steep for 10-30 minutes.
5. Transfer herb water to the shampoo bottle (the one that contains the castille soap)
6. Date and label the bottle (the shelf life is up to a year!). You can really go overboard with the cuteness of the label, as those shown below. Because mine was a practice round, I just sort of let it be anonymous....I'm the only one in my house that uses liquid shampoo anyway, but I'm toying with the idea of making this as a gift in the future and perhaps infusing with orange zest. We'll see.


"Her" Shampoo by Good4You; A Beautiful Life's (P.S. They're local!) "Honey'do" Shampoo in honey bear bottle,

Greetings from the Happy Files

Just a few things that are floating my boat:
Embroidery Art from the merriweather council.


Fabric Plants! from janejoss

Simple...and not so perfect. Compliments of AmeliaBrilliant ;)


Here's hoping this positive outlook will lead me straight into a positive labor. C'mon out, Amelia!
Love,
Jes