my love letter to ladies with large noses

photo of Angelica Huston in all of her prettiness :)

Dear Ladies with large noses,

I feel your pain.  Remember that time  your nose wasn't so big?  You look back at pictures from elementary school and just sigh.  It used to be so cute and small.  It used to be something you didn't really think about and now it is literally coming between you and your reflection.  I spent a good portion of my younger years (meaning high school which was, like, so long ago) feeling extremely self conscious about my appearance in the face area…primarily nozular.

I had, and still have, friends that tell me they love my nose.  That it is still cute.  But for a long time all that I saw was something bumpy that sticks out in front of me.  I srsly mourned the loss of my former tiny nose glory.  Why??  Why couldn't I see what others saw?  Why is it that, even today, when my husband tells me that my nose is what makes me a "uniquely beautiful woman", I just roll my eyes.  "SRSLY, David?" is all I think.  The truth is I have come a long way since those uncomfortable high school days.  I even have days where, dare I say it, I like my nose.  But those are probably days where I've eaten a box of brownies and I'd be ok with just about anything….I love brownies!  I feel things changed for me the year I decided to get my septum pierced.  Septum piercings have really become pretty popular these days, but back then it wasn't as normal to see a girl walking around with a ring hanging from the tip of her nose.  Or maybe I just live in Madison now and you can find facial piercings just about anywhere on just about anyone. Anyway,  I really enjoyed my septum piercing and what it represented.  I guess for me it was kinda like purposely  bringing attention to something I was uncomfortable with.  Taking something that I didn't like, and combining it with something I did in order to change the way I looked at myself.  Or maybe it was a distraction.  Maybe I was using the jewelry to altar what I felt people were focusing on when looking at my face.  Who knows…but the point is, it helped me.

I'm not telling you gals to go out and pierce your face, that's a personal choice that should only be left up to you.  But what I am saying is that you shouldn't let the weight of your nose keep you down!  There is beauty in standing out.  There is beauty in being unique.  We live in a world where we are trained to believe that the girls on the magazine covers are the ideal image of beauty, but guess what? They don't even look like that IRL!  Photoshop does the most damage, not by altering the bumps and curves we have, but by how it fills our heads with artificial beauty standards.  I think it's safe to say that for every insecurity we have as individuals, someone out there thinks that exact "flaw" is one of our greatest attributes.  I'd like to believe that for every envious thought I've had over someones ability to look a certain way, maybe they were thinking the same about me.  And why not?  I say that every time you catch yourself saying or thinking something negative about yourself, stop, and instead point out something you really like about yourself!  Take some selfies. Hashtag them #beautiful.  Enjoy who you are and the body you were given because you'll be stuck in it for awhile.

So here's a thought.  Let's stop saying that we fall into the category of "girls with large noses or big boobs / small butts / large feet / whatevs'" and instead hold our heads up high and agree that we fall into the category of "girls with unique features".  Okay? Ok!  And before I end this letter of love, I just wanna say that I think all girls are beautiful and unique.  But it's not up to me to decide how attractive you feel you are.  That's up to you!  What makes you feel beautiful? What do you like about yourself? What makes you stand out?  That is what matters, ladies.  You will always matter.

Liam Likes / V.1

It's pretty amazing.  As Liam gets older his personality just grows and grows.  I know it sounds like something you would think about and go "yeah duh...people develop personalities" but with every new personality trait comes a little bit of a wow factor.  It's a new discovery for us both.  At least I can honestly say that I'm proud of his personality so far.  As we are entering into a new stage of babyhood he is quick to let you know what he likes and what he doesn't like.  That got me thinking that it would be fun to document just that.  So here we go.  Volume 1: Liam likes:

• -Liam likes blueberries.  I mean...really likes them.  So much that after a day of eating his favorite snack du' jour his bottom is literally dyed blue.  I won't post a picture (you're welcome, future Liam)
• -Liam likes finding sticks and carrying them around...everywhere
• -Liam likes looking under the couch for cats.
• -Liam likes "snorting" along with Peppa during the intro to Peppa Pig
• -Liam likes wiggling back and forth when eating watermelon (his other favorite food)
• -Liam really likes walking around whenever and wherever he can.

What are your kids favorite things to do?

Current Favorites // Nursery

Ikea Rug//Eat Sleep Play Print//Mr Fox Stuffed Toy//Themis Mobile//Gulliver Crib//Stockholm Nightstand//Vegetable Set//Basket

I really enjoy gender neutral nurseries.  I put these items together because I think it's a good base for the beginnings of a space for baby.  You could easily add more gender specific things here and there and make it your own.  We are still working on creating Liam's room at the new house.  I'm not in a big rush seeing how he is still sleeping in our room and has several play places downstairs.  I imagine in the next 6 months he'll be spending more time in his own bedroom.  Lots of big changes ahead! ♥

Liam's custom cardboard book by pinhole press

When I was still pregnant with Liam I stumbled upon an adorable custom made cardboard book (probably on someones blog!) and thought it was such a great idea!  How fun!  Well it took me over a year to get it done but when I finally decided to make one I couldn't wait to get it in the mail!  It came yesterday and it is so cute.  Since Liam is really starting to pick up interest in speaking, not to mention he is finally interested in books, it seemed like the perfect time to make a book that helps put all those names to faces.

I wanted to keep it simple so I just made it "immediate family" (meaning: me, david & the fur babies).  But since there were a few pages left over, I used photos of Liam doing things that Liam likes to do.  Pretending to talk on the phone.  Pretending to drive the car.  And yes, I admit that the last photo of him sleeping is more like one of my favorite things that he does. ;)  So here's a little preview of what the rest of the book looks like (this isn't all of the pages fyi)

So there you have it! Want to make your own?  Just go to this website and get started on your very own book of names & faces! For $29.99 I think it was totally worth it.  And it came super fast in the mail!  I hope you guys are having a great week and have a wonderful weekend!

Liam in his room

Last week I talked about the "imperfect parent" along with a photo of Liam crying.  Here are the photos that happened before his breakdown.  So yeah, there is always the good to go along with the bad. :)  Enjoy!

the imperfect parent

It seems like everywhere you look there are parenting and lifestyle blogs filled with happy children, lovely outings, and adorable outfits.  Everything seems so perfect. Even though your Facebook friends might post sarcastic statuses explaining the silliness of how their homes resemble a construction zone, or how sleep isn't a necessity when you have a toddler, overall life seems pretty good.  We live in a time where it's easy to edit the appearance of our own lives in order to make them seem flawless.  And I am guilty of this as well! If you looked on my Facebook all you'd see are cheerful pictures of David and I, adorable fuzzy pets all curled up on the couch or sleeping in the sinks, and of course countless images of Liam all smiley and happy all day long.  What you don't see is late night bickering over who is going to help Liam get back to sleep, the bright yellow vomit (on my bright white rug) that my cat left for me to clean up because she decided to eat all of the flowers I picked from the garden, or Liam looking like he does in the photo above.

Life is not perfect.  And our life is not perfect.  During a normal day when 10 things are going wrong and I can't remember the last time I took a shower, there might be that one good moment where everything is going right and I take a picture...then I post it and voila! It looks like I've been having the best day ever.

The truth is most of the time I don't feel like the perfect parent and I don't have the perfect life.  The truth is, the photo above is closer to real life.  I was actually trying to get a nice picture of us, but Liam said enough is enough and began to cry.  Nothing I could say or do would make him smile for the camera...he was just done.  I wish we talked more about the downs of being a parent, not just the ups.  I  wish we found comfort in the fact that maybe we really don't know what we are doing, and that's ok!

I want to say that I spend all day singing songs, and taking him to the park, buying adorable hand made outfits on etsy, and preparing the most delicious meals made with the best organic foods Madison has to offer.  But what I will say is Liam watches TV and sometimes he's in his pajamas until 1 p.m.  Sometimes we sit down to eat lunch together, and sometimes I'm doing my best to come up with something other than cheddar bunnies for lunch because, the truth is,  I simply cannot convince myself that there is enough nutrition in those cute little bunny shaped crackers.  The truth is I find myself standing in the kitchen still wearing my glasses and drinking coffee that went cold 7 hours ago instead of being a perfect productive mommy that does laundry and empties the dishwasher because I'm tired....because honestly...Liam is not sleeping through the night, and the internet is full of LIES.

And the truth is...I'm a great mom.  I love my son with all of my heart.  I'm not perfect and life isn't perfect.  We just do our best, and that's all we really can do.  So give yourselves a break, imperfect parents.  You're awesome.  You're doing it! I'm proud of you.

Weekend Adventures V.1

I can already tell you that posting pictures while keeping my desktop organized will be quite the task for me.  I'm not sure how other bloggers do it!  I guess I'll need to start practicing keeping things in order and backing up frequently.  The majority of the pictures I'll be posting on the blog are from my phone.  I actually really dislike taking pictures on my digital camera because I feel no connection, and things are just easier with my phone.  If I'm going to take pictures with an actual camera it would always be film.  This particular weekend we had a lot of fun with our good friends.  We went out for sushi, went to the pool and park, and just spent a lot of time out and about in general.  Here are a few highlights from the past few days.  Enjoy!

What did you do for the weekend?

^^^ this is Liam's new "face" ^^^