the peacoat papers

holiday gift idea - subscriptions!

I am a fan of the gift of the keeps on giving.  I am really a fan of gifts that aren't stuff.

So this one is easy.  Subscriptions!  Those pesky monthly costs do add up, you know.

Amazon has cheap, cheap, cheap magazine subscriptions.  Some are as low as $5.  (I took advantage myself - my favorites are Real Simple, Elle Decor, and O.  *sigh* R.I.P. Domino, the best home magazine ever.)

Basic Flickr is free, but it doesn't give you much storage.  A Flickr Pro account is only $25 for the year, and I store literally thousands of photos there.  Which was awesome, until it wasn't.

Finally - something we all need but not everyone will splurge on - online backup. 

There are several sites that will backup all your pictures, music, and important documents in case of disaster.  The Gorilla and I have both had laptops stolen in the last several years, and it is devastating to lose files that are precious to you.  I don't take the chance anymore.  Carbonite offers complete backup for $55/year and I do nothing.  Mozy starts at $5/month, and this is a good article comparing the different services.

There might be other subscription-style options for your sweetie/friend/co-worker, this is just meant to spark your imagination.  Because I, for one, really love the gifts that don't take up any space. 

holiday gift idea - serving pieces from CB2

(Throughout the year, I constantly see items that I think would make a good gift, but when the holidays roll around, I draw a blank.  Suddenly I can't think of a single thing that anyone would possibly want as a gift.  I finally decided to start keeping a list - using the Notes app on my phone - and will share them here with you.  In case you're out of ideas.  Or, like me, haven't even started yet.)

When I threw my first fancy dinner party this year, I realized fast and quick that I am in serious need of serving pieces.  I have several that go with my china, and a few fun ones (porcelain OU chip-and-dip, anyone?), but nothing appropriate for the occasion. 

As I started looking around - frantically, actually - I realized that the kind of serving pieces I liked weren't exactly cheap.  And I needed multiple pieces.  I finally found just what I was looking for, and at a very reasonable price.

CB2 has a great collection of serving pieces, and I vouch for their quality.  I went with the classic white collection, but the marble cheese trays and dandelion pieces would make a beautiful gift for the friend or family member who likes to entertain.  Or for yourself, during this hostess-y season.  Many are under $20.

I like CB2 for a lot of things, but until they opened a store here in LA, it just wasn't on my radar.  Now it is.

(fine print: I don't do paid endorsements.  These are just things I like.) 

baby announcements - necessary?

You would think I would be all over something like baby announcements.  After all, I love all things paper.  And this one from Dwell would even match her bedding: 

But I am really stuck on the birth announcement thing.  First of all, we live in a world of immediate.  Our friends and family are not inclined to sit around waitin' on the snail mail to deliver the first images of Pigtail. 

So by the time they receive the official announcement - let's assume weeks after the birth - they've already heard her stats, and seen multiple pictures.  At best, it's thrown up on a fridge somewhere.  At worst, it's thrown away.

It's really only a keepsake for a immediate family.  Sorta seems like a waste of time and money.

Not to mention that the only birth announcements I can find that I like are pretty plain and don't involve a picture.  And really, the picture is the most important part of the birth announcement.  Everyone wants to peer at a new baby.  I guess I could just put a picture in the envelope behind the announcement, but now I've given the recipient two things to throw away deal with.

So...I'm leaning towards no baby announcements.  But that makes me sad.  Pulls on my heartstrings a little.  Like I'm already compromising for Pigtail.

(Now rest assured, as an avid believer in tradition and certain formality, her personalized stationary has already been ordered.)

Your thoughts?  Did you do birth announcements?  Do you like receiving them even when it's "old news" ?

i can't stop buying books

They just keep stacking up under my bedside table.  These are just a few that I have purchased over the last couple of weeks.

Maybe this is my version of nesting?

rock-your-world packages

These are the kind of packages that say Friendship.

I received this heaven-sent thing in the mail last week from my friend Rebecca, who birthed her own baby girl in the spring. 

These are all hand-me-downs meant for Pigtail, complete with instructions.  Tears sprang forth from my tired eyes. 

This is a pass-it-on kind of gift.  I hope six months from now I'm sending on a package of must-haves to a girlfriend pregnant and swollen. 

I'm not sure who that would be just yet, but I have my suspicions. 

creative baby shower gifts

I wish I could feature every single gift I've received for Pigtail or myself over the last several months, because there have been some real doozies. 

So many special things have been unwrapped.  Some useful, some super cutesy, some I know I'll use every day, and others I can't wait to use and then pass on because they're so great.

But at the fanciest baby shower of all time, I received a couple of things worth mentioning because of their sheer outside-the-box-ness. 

First was from one of my hostesses, Rachel.  As I posted about here, Rachel makes beautiful jewelry and sells pieces on Etsy.  So I wasn't surprised her present came from that addictive crafty website, but I was thrilled with it's function and presentation.

 

Isn't this creative?  It's a precious growth chart that you hang and then "mark" with the little tags as your child grows.  I mean, I'm a fan of pencil in the doorjam, too, but this practically doubles as a work on art, since it hangs on the wall.  Shop Miss Natalie's store here.

This next idea is from my friend Jill.  She lovingly made lullaby CD's for Pigtail.  This makes me happy because Jill has excellent taste and I know that The Gorilla and I will both enjoy the music, too. 

 

Handmade gifts like this always mean so much because it means the gifter gave so much time and thought into the project. 

Okay, so this next one is clothes, which I understand doesn't usually fall into the "creative" category - no matter how cute - but these got so many squeals and chuckles at the shower that I decided to include them.  This is a onesie and a shirt from Rock Your Baby, and we received them from our friend Lauren.  I am loving this brand!

 

Everyone agreed that these were both very "Laura."  Especially the pearls.  Perfect!

I have received stacks of children's books and I never tire of those.  I love children's books and I know Pigtail will, too.  But this book is going to be particularly useful, I think.

  

Fun Places To Go With Kids In Southern California looks like a great resource.  The card from our friend Shari said something like, "We discovered a whole new LA!" and I believe it.

So if buying off the registry bores you, or if you're just looking for something a little different, here are just a few of the gifts that I was excited to write Thank You's for. 

More to come...there is at least one thing sitting in the nursery still in the box that you're going to need to see. 

danica diaper bag

I am now 32 weeks along in this journey.  32 weeks is a milestone in the pregnancy, it marks the Baby-Might-Just-Arrive-Now-And-Might-Just-Be-Okay.

Of course we don't want her to arrive anytime soon.  Ideally, she should cook another 8 weeks.  But there is some relief that (hopefully) the scariest unknowns have passed.

So far, the third trimester is as it was explained to me: I've become (much) larger, I'm getting a lot more tired, and some of the stomach issues from the first trimester have returned. 

But all in all, stupid illness aside, I'm feeling good and moving along as I should be.  As I type this, I'm watching Pigtail bounce around in my stomach.  Yep, I'm watching her.  When she is being especially active, you can see her through my round belly.  She's a feisty little thing.

**

The real news is that I stumbled upon a diaper bag I actually like.  The diaper bag thing has been a bit of a dilemma.  I don't mind something looking diaper-bag-ish, but I just haven't liked any I've seen.  Then, on a back sale table at a little boutique store I saw this:

 

It's actually not a diaper bag.  It's a messenger bag, maybe for laptops?  I don't care.  It fit my two requirements which were: 1. Not Ugly and 2. Light.  Light is very important to me.  As established, I tend to load up a bag, so any extra weight is just a burden. 

This messenger bag from Danica fit the bill perfectly.  The price tag was very reasonable (even without the sale), and it opens wide for lots of stuffing.  There are also a good number of pockets, but not too many.

 

What more could I ask for?  We'll give this one a try.

things i'm going to miss about the lake

We've had the most wonderful summer, but it is time to go home to Los Angeles. 

I feel it inside, that it is finally time to leave the lake.  At least for now.

There are so many things I will miss about our lake house, but the few that stand out:

 

The porch lights.  They bathe our southern screened-in porch in the most lovely glow.  It's almost like candlelight. 

 

Lemonade in Tervis Tumblers.  I made lemonade almost every day.  And I started serving it in Tervis Tumbler glasses that I became addicted to after I was introduced to them by my new lake friends. 

I was later gifted an OU set by mybestfriendfromcollege Alyson.  I'm not sure I can ever drink out of anything else.

 

Our thin sheets and blanket.  Bedding is really important to me.  I love to curl up and disappear under sheets and blankets and thick down duvets. 

But somehow at the lake, our entire bed routine has changed.  The most comfortable place I've ever been in my life is under this thin sheet and blanket with the ceiling fan whirring above.  And boat noises outside.  And a screen door slamming.  All of these things I listened to from under these sheets.  Heaven.

 

The "T."  It was one of the first things I purchased for the lake house.  It lights up the living room on the porch wall.  It personifies our life at the lake.  

Farewell Summer 2009.  We walk confidently into the fall.

where there once was stuff...

While I was out, little elves came and hauled away the guest bed, a couch, and that interesting rug from the tiki room.

What was that under the guest bed?  Well, I forgot it was there!  It was a middle-of-the-night-infomercial purchase.  The fluidity bar.  I had such high hopes for my "core" muscles.  Sigh.  Now it shares an empty floor with mountains of dust bunnies.

Those that ran off with the tiki room furniture even left a sweet note.  They're lucky they could find a clean spot.  Oh wait, they probably had to clear that little square. 

Everything went to good homes.  I'm trying not to let all this CHANGE give me anxiety. 

sunday in the canyon - jewelry & beauty trunk show

So this was actually Saturday in the canyon, but who's counting?  Sunday in the canyon was full of  biscuits and warm cookies and spicy angel shrimp pasta.  Nothing to speak of, really.  Just perfection. 

So I'll highlight Saturday in the canyon and pretend that I got out of my pajamas today.  Or brushed my teeth.

My friends Rachel and Nora hosted a trunk show at Nora's apartment.  Rachel makes the most beautiful jewelry.  Her pieces really are exquisite.  I'm highly encouraging, just insisting, that she have another one of these sales close to the holidays so I can impress all my girly gift-recipients with her creations.

It will make me look like I have excellent taste, when really I could blindly pluck any old thing off Rachel's tree and know it would be fabulous.

I bought myself a pair of fancy pink-and-gold earrings.  Pink-and-gold is my favorite color combination.  I am very pink-and-gold in my head's version of myself.

Nora is a freelance writer, who so happens to write a lot about beauty, and becoming beautiful, which must be easy for her since she is.  But it's not so easy on her beauty closet, as it is busting at the seams and she needed to unload some of her products. 

Which I happily snapped up, beauty junkie that I am. 

I could chat for hours with these two girls, and we do, every month or so at the gathering we call book club.  We call it book club because we do read a book beforehand, and we do discuss the book for a few minutes before we get down to the real business of DISCUSSING THINGS.  We will DISCUSS THINGS for up to five hours.  It's no joke.  Big Fun. 

This weekend was all business, though.  Transactions with friends can be weird, but I got the better end of the deals on this one.