Currently: Grunge/90's Nostalgia Edition

Loving everything with early 90's nostalgia. Grunge fashion. Bohemian revival. Messy hair. No makeup. Incense. Grandpa sweaters. Plaid. Dr. Martens. Band tees. Kurt Cobain. Black. Vegetarian cuisine (I tried my first vegetarian food in like, '95 at the neighbor's). Hoodies. Street musicians. Facial Piercings. Twin Peaks (hello, weird show filmed in my hometown. I'm making my husband watch all the episodes with me right now). Real cartoons. Head banging. Stretch pants (we call them leggings now). Memories.

One place I like to get my fix of 90's-esque fashion is Free People. I would totally be rocking the 4 pieces below if it was in the budget. If you're up for some grunge music "Molly's Lips" ala Nirvana is below the collage. My dad's old band used to play it for me when I had to go to band practice. Yeah, I grew up near Seattle, in the 90's, with a musician dad. Pretty cool, right?

1.Indian Enchantment Dress 2.Crochet Cuff Henley 3.Rebel in Lace Tee and Free to Shine Slip 4.Floral Tunic

Midweek Music P.9: "Blessed Soul" Merriment

The DuPree family has seriously got the most fabulous gene pool ever. The kids are all incredibly talented and beautiful, and they seem to be very well rounded and down to earth. Christie is a "Blessed Soul" indeed. Her voice has a beautiful similarity to all of her sister's, like they were all put into a melting pot and out came Christie. The lyrics and video are simply charming. I hope the middle of this week finds all of you well, and that you enjoy this as much as I do. :)

22 Before 23

I've seen lots of these # before # goal lists on blogs lately (okay so some are pretty old, and I'm just now seeing them), and since I'll be 23 in about 6 1/2 months with lots I'd love to accomplish before then, I'm throwing one together. In the past I've spent lots of time making lists, it's something I do, I love it, and I'm the kind of person who really needs them. I forget EVERYTHING. Also I feel like writing things down makes me more accountable. So does putting them on the internet so that other people can see what you are trying to accomplish. Without further babbling...

1. Establish a daily routine, with room for spontaneity, but still structured.
2. Work on creative prototypes for a future etsy shop.
3. See at least 2 live music performances.
4. Refurbish the antique dresser that I've been meaning to do for 7 years...
5. Do yoga every single day, and keep track.
6. Post at least 3-4 entries on the blog every week.
7. Don't chop my hair off (something I tend to do as soon as it starts getting long).
8. Lose the last 25 pounds of baby weight I'm still harboring.
9. Start snail mail correspondance with my out of state family.
10. Improve my (non-existant) photography skills.
11. Keep an indoor plant alive (for six months, and it will be a struggle. I have a brown thumb.)
12. Buy some produce and/or flowers from Pike Place.
13. Get a sewing machine and learn to sew.
14. Wean Lorelei.
15. Take up learning French via Rosetta Stone.
16. Switch over all of my beauty products to more natural, conscious ones.
17. Produce less non recyclable waste.
18. Find a good church to go to.
19. Spend time outside everyday.
20. Get my enhanced Washington Driver's license.
21. Learn at least one song on my dusty guitars.
22. Get 100 followers on the blog.

So that's my list. I thought it was a good excuse to post some goals that aren't some kind of hokey New Year's resolutions. Those never pan out for me. Do you have any goals to reach before your next birthday? I'd love to see your lists if you leave me a link in my comments!

Midweek Music P.8: "Nell" City Bear

If you've visited the blog before you may have heard about City Bear already. City Bear is the solo/collaborative music project of my uncle, Drew, who was previously the lead singer/songwriter for the band Church for Sinners. His music has a dark, folky vibe, and he compares himself to artists like Elliot Smith and Matt Pryor. I was really hoping that his first studio album would be out now, but it will be better for not being rushed. I'll be posting more about it as its release date becomes known. The song I'm posting on here today is special. "Nell" is a bittersweet goodbye sort of song, that he dedicated to his aunt (my great aunt) who passed a little over a year ago. It's also the song I recorded some harmonies for on the album. This is the demo version, just Drew and his guitar. Hope you enjoy it!

Bloglovin

I've just added my blog to Bloglovin, so if you follow your favorites there, you can Follow my blog with Bloglovin too. And while you're at it look around at my previous posts and such, get to know me a little, you might like me!

Midweek Music P.7: "To Be With You" The Honey Trees

I don't know what I love the most about these two. They're pretty, their music is pretty, their videos are pretty, and it makes me want to dance around in a pretty dress. I don't know how well I can convey the "pretty" with such an overused word. Anyways, I hope you're all staying cool. I feel like I'm being cooked trying to clean in here at all today (no AC, what the heck Washington?). Enjoy the pretty. :)

Been Awhile

The past week or so has been a good one, and I think I'm ready to start keeping track on here again. We've kept rather busy, but not busy in the sense that I feel we're rushing all the time and not really enjoying ourselves. On Tuesday David got to come home from work early and had Wednesday off for the holiday. We decided to take a 30 minute drive to my hometown, North Bend, so I could acquaint David with the places I really loved as a kid. We brought Edie with us in hopes that more involvement and exposure for her would be a good thing. She surprised us with her good behavior (good for her anyways) all day.

There is a fabulous donut shop there called George's Bakery, and while I hear the owner has changed, the pastries are still the same. My favorite as a kid was always the glazed twist donuts. They didn't have any on Wednesday, but we weren't at all disappointed in the cinnamon sugar twist, maple bar (best maple bar EVER), and strawberry preserve filled powdered donut. We took our donuts to my favorite park E.J. Roberts Park. I was pleased to find that it had not changed a bit. Lorelei happily ran around in the grass and dirt. She'd much rather enjoy nature than the man made playground. It made my heart so happy to see her frolicking around, and brought back tons of happy memories. My youngest sister played much the same way, and at the same age there.

After the park we drove around some residential areas, like the apartment I lived in for 6 or so years. The real magical place was the Riverbend neighborhood though. While I don't have many memories there myself, it holds a lot of nostalgia. It's a subdivision type neighborhood, started in the 60's I believe, but it's tucked down in a forested area. There are hydrangeas in most of the yards (one of my very favorite flowers), and how many people can step into their backyard and pick wild blackberries and huckleberries? My paternal grandparents bought their first plot and built their first home there. My dad and his three siblings have so many stories of their childhood adventures in the area. I was sad to see that the home of my dad's childhood best friend was for sale, still bearing their last name on the front of the house. My dad's grandpa lived in the neighborhood too. He died when I was just three, and while I have very few and faint recollections of him, they are all sweet. I can remember eating bitter huckleberries off of the bushes in the backyard, throwing around funky old lawn daisies, his dog named Pepsi, and the smell of his shop. I felt so at ease and full of love being in the area. David loved it as much as I did, and we can't wait to go back for one of the local festivals next month.

Once we left North Bend we headed to Whole Foods in Bellevue to get some Dr. Bronner's Magic soap. The frugal in us went a little bonkers over the prospect of a natural product boasting 18 uses. I plan to try most of the uses at some point.

We indulged that evening in Five Guys for dinner because sometimes I just don't feel like cooking. So we sat on the couch with our lazy, fatty food and watched God Bless America. Not for those who can't tolerate some foul language and lots of shooting, but beyond all that we like the message.We watched a firework show over Lake Washington from the roof of our apartment building. It was another nice perk that comes with David working where we live. Lorelei fell asleep about 3 minutes into the display and slept like a rock all night!

The next morning I found ten dollars on the ground while taking Edie potty. Our week has continued in  good spirits. On Saturday night we went to see my mom's biological dad who is in town with his wife. It was his first time meeting David and Lorelei (who without my knowing was named after his favorite aunt, how awesome is that?!). His wife is Korean and before moving to the US ran a restaurant. She cooked us an elaborate dinner with 5 courses, and gave Lorelei a boxed black sesame and bean soy drink that I really enjoyed.

So yeah, things have been purdy good. Other news this week is that my 19 year old sister is now married. I didn't get to be there, nor do I think it was a good idea, but all I can do now is hope for her happiness. This next week will be spent in preparation of my 16 year old sister's visit. It will be some good blogging with teaching her to cook, dressing her up, and doing a college campus tour.
Here's the few pictures I could scrounge up this week. I've been neglecting taking the camera places because it takes awful pictures anyways.

Here are the very few pictures we took/gathered up this week.

Every Little Thing She Does

Life has been busy lately, mostly good busy, but I am sad that it has kept me from posting here. Today I'm going to make it all about my Lorelei. The girl is changing SO MUCH, and doing SO MUCH I can hardly keep up with her. She'll be 17 months in two days, and I have no idea where the tiny swaddled 8.5 pound baby I delivered went!

Lorelei being 17 months means that it's been that long (plus the last few months of pregnancy) that I've slept a whole stretch of more than 5 hours. My child still won't sleep longer than that at once. It's taxing. Other than that she's such a joy all the time. Her favorite things to do currently are coloring with crayons, mostly on the desk and other surfaces, climbing everything (dining table, nightstands, chairs, toilet, etc.), arranging like objects in lines, playing salon with my nail polishes, having her toenails painted, taking all of her shoes out of the closet, rough housing on the bed, working on bikes with Daddy, dancing like a ballerina on her little toes with her arms over her head, making hilarious faces in the mirror, sticking her head under the faucet to drink and play in water, tucking all of her stuffed animals in under blankets, also kissing them A LOT, pulling all of Mommy's mixing bowls and storage containers out of the cupboard and scattering them about, harassing Edith, trying to make friends with Roxy, and watching "Tutube".

Her vocabulary is developing and she surprises us with new words and exclamations almost daily. Yesterday she came running to me with one of her blocks and in a deep voice she shouted enthusiastically "Yeyo". It was indeed yellow. Her word list includes: mommy, daddy, cheese, pretty, ball, "tutube" (youtube), sit (said to the dog while waving her leash around), "bah" (bath), "cafcaf" (coffee), "tetu" (thank you), "garby" (said when she wants to throw away or recycle something), cute, cookie, baby, "zuk a ti" (look at this), wow, hot, nigh nigh, bye bye, hi, "side" (outside), "popca"(popcorn),  kitty, puppy, birdie, uh oh, no, done, down, "bickie" (book), toes, "mou" (mouth), and nose. She can point out the locations of: her mouth, nose, eyes, chin, hair, ear, neck, belly button, fingers, knees, and toes. Her favorite letters are "A", "E", "O", probably because they are fun to say. She's very sweet, and showers us with hugs and kisses all the time. She's taken interest in sitting on the toilet occasionally, never with any product, but I'm pretty tickled that she's interested.

It's insane to think of how fast they go from tiny, reliant babes to crazy, independent kids. It really is just a blink away. There's a happiness and sadness to it. I am so glad to be able to stay home with her and experience it all.