Brody Nook Makeover

So there's this little corner in our kitchen area that is the perfect size/location for a Brody coloring, playdough, snack time nook. I go to thrift stores every couple of weeks just to see if anything speaks to me, and on one lucky trip I got everything I needed for the Brody nook. For under 50 bucks!

Here's the breakdown:

Mini pedestal table: $20
Two brown mystery material stools: $16 for the pair
Hideous framed print: $10
Grand total: $46

I was really excited to find the pedestal table since it is solid wood and looks classic and sturdy. The other two finds definitely got some raised eyebrows from Jared's direction. (which always makes me more excited to show him the finished product)

So I sanded and painted the table and frame Benjamin Moore's Decorator White, took the glass and print out of the frame and tossed them, painted the wooden backing of the frame with chalkboard paint, and made slipcovers for the little stools. Super easy and super durable space that we use every day. Most of the time he sits there to eat lunch and snack, it's a perfect kids table when we have friends over, and all of his crayons/papers/etc. are corralled above on two Ikea shelves.

I've since made new slipcovers for the stools and love that when I get sick of them too I can just slap on some new ones!

Vintage trunk love

I found this aviator trunk from World War II at a flea market a couple months ago (it had pieces of the original shipping label still on it, so cool!). FOR $40!!! Flea markets usually bring out a fierce bargaining gene in me (from my mother's side) but I practically threw two twenties at the guy and carried this thing on my back the rest of the day. Well, not all day. And not on my back (thanks to my sister Kellye), but if I had to I totally would have!

Now what to do with it? Polish it up and stare at it's beautifulness was first on the list. I stared for a long time. What do you want to be lovely trunk? Then it spoke to me - I want to be an awesome console table with storage underneath to hide your husband's ridiculous array of playstation materials. I knew I loved you, trunk.

The problem was the size - not tall enough to be a table on it's own, but too tall to sit on top of any normal table. So I decided to take matters into my own I've-never-built-anything-ever hands, smiled really nicely at the Home Depot lumber guys, and attempted to just make a table that wasn't hideous. Oh boy.



And you know, it worked! Although a tad hideous, for my first venture into building stuff I'm just glad it's sturdy and level. :)



It seemed a little plain so I slapped some corner braces on the outside of a few slats to make a little lip at the top for the trunk to sit inside.



Much betta!




And the final before and after:




I was so in love with this trunk and I'm so excited that it's now actually a functional piece of furniture. I think Jared was pleasantly surprised too, could I be winning him over!? Possibly so...

Moral of the story - if you can't find it, make it. Even if the end product is more on the slightly hideous side than you planned. If I can do it, I PROMISE, you can do it too. Home Depot is your friend. :)

When the house gets quiet...

things like this happen! By the time I found him he had scooped out almost all of the Vaseline and was rubbing it in his hair and all over his face. And thought is was HILARIOUS.




As soon as I saw him I knew I had a choice - go into immediate cleanup mode or grab my camera. Needless to say I chose to cleanup later, it was funny until he started chasing me around the room with his slimy self.




And then it started to coat his eyeballs...





So it was bath time. Have you ever tried to wash Vaseline clumps out of hair!? IMPOSSIBLE! Dish soap, peanut butter, and two beaten eggs later (the eggs worked the best) he was a little less slimy. I think it took a week before it was all out.





He keeps me on my toes, that's for sure. And it's really going to get busy this spring when he's not the only child anymore. Yep, Brody will be a big brother in late March/early April! We're super excited, and I'm sure Brody will be happy to recruit a partner in crime. I have a feeling the shenanigans have just begun. :)

Nap Time

Nap Time. This has been the trickiest thing for me to figure out how to do consistently so I've just determined that I like a fluid method - one that changes depending on Brody's needs, my needs, vacations/visiting family, sick vs. healthy, etc. In other words I am not going to wreak havoc on everyone involved for the sake of keeping to a strict nap schedule or routine, but when I can without any havoc wreaking I will. :)

So when all is normal (ie: Brody and I at home during the day) I keep to the strict eating schedule (previous post) and watch for signs that he is tired in between. He will usually scratch his eyes, get fussy, and turn red like Jack-Jack from The Incredibles. Since he is generally happy all other times of the day I know this means he is ready for a nap.

After keeping track of how often this happened over a few days I noticed that he is normally awake for two hours at a time, give or take a half hour or so. The only exception being first thing in the morning - exactly an hour after he wakes up he is ready to go back to sleep, like clock work. I'm sure this varies baby to baby, but usually they all have a max time of being awake before a level 5 meltdown ensues.

He sleeps for 45 min - 1 hour at each nap with one big 1-1/2 to 2 hour nap mid day. So this equals up to 3-4 naps a day, which makes us both happy.

In my experience the hard part isn't trying to figure out when they're tired, it's trying to put them down for a nap without losing your mind. One babywise method that really has helped me is putting them in their crib when they're AWAKE. This way they learn to fall asleep on their own and don't require endless rocking, singing, bouncing, etc. to drift off. This is really hard at first so I eased myself into it by putting him in his crib and holding his hands while I shushed him until he was calm. He gets a binky only for naps so that usually helps too. Nowadays I put him in his crib, give him his binky and bo-bo (a little Rabbit that he loves) and turn around and walk out.

There are times when he will cry or fuss when I walk out (maybe once or twice a day) and those times I give him 10 minutes and then go back in to check on him, put his binky in, and walk back out. He has cried for longer than 10 minutes only a handful of times.

Things get tricky when we visit family or when he's sick and wants to be held (which is my life right now since he has hives, poor little guy). Asking grandparents to put a sleepy baby in bed and walk away is like asking me to grow three inches - it would be nice, but it's not going to happen. So sometimes we go off the plan and it takes a day or two to get readjusted but that's fine with me. So here's an example of his normal schedule.

• 6:30              Wakes up in his crib. Put him in bed with us.
• 7:30              Wakes up and has a bottle.
• 8:30 - 9:30    Nap
• 9:30 - 10:30  Play time
• 10:30            Bottle
• 11:30 - 1:00  Nap (usually his long mid-day nap)
• 1:30              Bottle
• 2:00 - 3:00    Play time
• 3:00 - 4:00    Nap
• 4:30              Bottle
• 5:00 - 6:00    Play time
• 6:00 - 7:00    Optional nap or Play time
• 7:30              Bottle
• 8:00              Bath
• 8:30              Bedtime

SOLD

I am selling my Canon 50mm 1.8 lens, the "nifty fifty"! It is a really awesome lens that is in great condition, perfect if you are upgrading from a kit lens or if you need a super fast, sharp prime lens. Check out the specs here. I took the pictures in the previous post with it. :)

I'm selling it for $50 plus shipping. If you are interested email me at tyan@tinybirdphotography.com.

Obsession....Carmindy's Foundation

A while back I blogged about Carmindy's Under Eye concealer and how great it is, I still love it and use it everyday. So with the way my skin is handling the wash of pregnancy hormones (not well, by the way) I thought I would give some other things from her line a try. This time - Your Skin Foundation.

I am a loyal, die hard Bare Minerals user so I felt a little guilty cheating with new foundation. But I won't lie, I was looking forward to a break from tap, tap, swirl, tap, tap, buff, buff, buff, swirl, buff.

Why I went with this is because I wanted something with a little more coverage, easy to apply, good for extra sensitive skin, and lasts the whole day without touch-ups. I was prepared to try a lot of different things since I was expecting a lot, but after two trips to CVS to find the right shade (you can open, test, and return any cosmetic item at CVS!) and a week of wearing I am sold!!

It goes on smoothly without that glossy look some foundations have, it covers well but looks totally natural (I use one pump for my whole face), and lasts all day. I put it on after my moisturizer and then dust some Bare Minerals Mineral Veil on to set it (and make myself feel better about cheating on my old friend). Usually I can tell if my skin doesn't agree with something pretty quickly and this has been great so far. I'll keep you updated if that changes anytime soon.

I want to try the airbrush foundation next, I think it will be great for vacation makeup. Quick and easy!

Behold ...

... the power of White Flower Oil. I don't know where my mom gets this stuff but it is seriously a miracle worker (or cruel torture device if you get it in your eyes).

Another fun pregnancy discovery was learning the only pain reliever you can take is Tylenol - Tylenol is for babies!!! I come from a long line of Excedrin dependent ancestors and Tylenol just doesn't do it for me. Then I remembered the small, mysterious viles of clear oil covered in chinese writings that are strategically placed around my parent's house - eureka!

Whenever we had a bad headache or sinus infection it always helped. You just dab a little on your temples, behind your ears, and under you nose and it starts helping right away. If you're hardcore you can boil a pot of water, put a few drops of white flower oil in it, and hang your head over the steam with a towel over it. That always does the trick. (be sure your eyes are closed or torture will ensue).

Before all of that you have to find where to buy the stuff, I have no idea where to buy it. Maybe my mom has access to the secret underground chinese herb market that thrives in Tyler. This could be. But if anyone wants to give it a shot I found it on Amazon - just click here.

And be sure to wash your hands after you use it or you could accidentally get it in your eyes. And die.

Obsession...Carmindy's under eye concealer

I saw this new under eye concealer in a magazine somewhere so I decided to pick it up if I saw it anywhere. Turns out there it was on display at Ulta so I grabbed it, I mean Carmindy works wonders on those people from What Not To Wear so she might know what she's talking about! And she does!

I was skeptical of the pink, almost fluorescent, color but under my bare minerals powder foundation it blends right in and totally works. I don't even use normal under eye concealer anymore, just this. At about 9 bucks, it just doesn't get any better than that!

I heart the Mamarazzi Workshop

A couple weeks ago I went down to Austin for the Mamarazzi Workshop by Sarah Q. of Roxy and Kai Photography, and it was AWESOME. We were there all day and learned a ton. We also got to have a mini session with this little cutie to practice! It was the best, there was actually another girl from College Station there so now we keep in touch!





If anyone is contemplating getting into photography, or if you just want to take better pictures of your kids, I highly suggest a workshop like this. You'll learn what you need and how to use it (and that Manual mode is your best friend, not just a scary M!).









And because I can't resist a cute "I'm losing it" picture:

Calling cards galore...

These damask print calling cards have been really popular in my Etsy store lately, and I love the colors people have been requesting. Well hello orange!

I also like how one mom asked to put "Max and Ali's Mom" on hers to give out to daycare, schools, babysitters, etc. Unique, stylish AND informative - what a great idea!

All Hail

So a couple weeks ago I did a post about my latest favorite find, Hollywood Fashion Tape. Who knew so many of us are annoyed with clothes that don't stay put!? Since then I've tried out a different brand of fashion tape called Bug Catcherz to see if I like one better than the other and I have to say that Bug Catcherz gets my vote, hands down!

Bug Catcherz has a lot of different products that solve the problems that "bug" us, here are my non-biazed reviews of the two that I tried.

The "No See 'ems Too" are adhesive strips similar to the Hollywood Fashion Tape strips but come in three different sizes. The smallest are the same size as HFT strips but have a stronger hold so you can restick if you need to move them. The two larger sizes are great for fixing hems (HFT strips did not hold my pant hems up both times I tried). I used to have jeans for flats and jeans for heels but now I use the largest size for tacking my jean hem up so I can wear them with either! Revolutionary!

But the greatest of all are the "No See 'ems" which I'm pretty sure were made just for me. They are designed to hold the gaps in between the buttons of button-down shirts shut. I have a love for button-down shirts but have always hated how they gap open, hallelujah! I gave some of these out to friends and they are all crazy about them. Love, love love.

They are a little more expensive than HFT but well worth the difference. I even cut the strips in half sometimes - since they are stronger you don't need a whole strip on each side of your top, a half will do. Overall, they just give you one less thing to worry about all day and who doesn't need that!?

Click here to order online or find a store near you.

I am pale

You know, it's not so easy getting a tan when you work in an office during all daylight hours of the week. My pale self has learned this lesson the hard way. I actually scared myself the other day when I was looking especially pale I guess. So after doing thorough research (the sheer number of magazines I get each month garauntees the thorough-ness) and testing many different products I've come to the following conclusion: I love Neutrogena Sunfresh tanning foam.

Yes, love is a strong word and I really mean it, I love it. I don't do tanning beds because of the wierd smell that they have and because I don't want to look like a leather boot in 10 years, so I've tried various tanning lotions, sprays, and foams hoping that I can get a little color and not look like an Oompa-Loompa. Here are the ones I've tried and what I do/don't like about each one.


Winner: Neutrogena SunFresh Foam


Likes: Easy to put on and dries quickly (5 minutes), natural subtle color, minimal streaking, and most of all - not so smelly!
Dislikes: Still a little smelly, but it goes away after 30 minutes or so


Second Place: Neutrogena Spray Mist


Likes: Super quick and easy to put on, not so prone to streaking, good color
Dislikes: Smelly, like for days


Third Place: Banana Boat Selftanning Mist



Likes: Quick and easy to put on, realistic color, not streaky
Dislikes: Really smelly, don't let the "Fresh Citrus scent" promise fool you



Fourth Place: Dove Energy Glow Subtle Self Tanner (lotion)

Likes: It's Dove, and I like Dove because I think they're a good company
Dislikes: Smelly, tricky to put on without streaks (what I've found with most lotions), goes on really light the first time and by the third time you're like "What the?"


Dead Last: Mystic/Spray Tan


Likes: takes 5 minutes
Dislikes: and another 45 minutes later to scrub all the streaks off! Not natural looking, really smelly, costs a lot, always problems with hands/wrists and toes/ankles being streakified

(how funny is that picture, doesn't she know her hair is going to be disgusting!?)

Need Motivation?

Everyone's seen those really cheesy motivational posters with pictures of mountain climbers or landscapes, and if you haven't then just watch The Office tomorrow night - Michael has a few in his office I believe.

Anyway, I think these are way better and hilarious.

I think these are two of my favorites:

There's tons more here, enjoy!

My new best friend

I'm always on the lookout for little things that make life easier like pssst, the isabelt, and my trusty tide pen. (all of which I use at least once a week) Well, I have another addition to the list and it's in the running for my favorite-invention-ever award: Hollywood Fashion Tape.






I've read in lots of magazines about people using "double stick tape" to keep their dresses in place and what not, but double stick tape seems kinda flimsy to me so I never tried it out. Then the other day I was at Joann's fabric and ran across this little box and figured I'd give it a try.

I'm always having problems with wandering necklines and it makes me all paranoid, not anymore though! These come in precut strips (don't fall for the "red carpet assortment", they all work the same and the regular ones are cheaper) and really stay put. For about $6 you can get a box of 36 strips which lasts a really long time.

I'm totally hooked.

Ode to Wellies

Wellies, galoshes, rainboots ... call them whatever you like, I love them all. I got a pair last year before going to New York because it was supposed to rain the whole time (it didn't), so I lugged them all the way there and all the way back and then stuck them in the back of my closet. They are really really cute (black outside, pink inside) but I could only wear them when it rained so it made me kind of sad.

Then one clear sunny day I decided that if I wanted to wear rainboots, I was going to wear rainboots. So I did, and have worn them whenever I feel like it ever since!! I'm very happy with this decision. The bonus is that if it is rainy or wet outside you can channel your inner five year-old self and splash in every puddle from the parking lot to Target if you want to (I happened to do this from time to time and I highly recommend it). So feast your eyes on these little lovlies (all from Target), and feel free to wear them whenever you so please.

A little Blurbage

Everyone loves a good photo album, right? Just not everyone loves putting them together, myself included. I always envision an amazingly crafted book with photo corners on every picture and cute cut-outs that match the theme of the page, but give me a break for real - not happening. I hate those sticky corners and who even cares how cute the page turns out since you have to stick it behind plastic anyway, just not a fan really.

Then my friend and photographer extraordinaire, Megan K., showed me the photo books she makes on her Mac and I became obsessed. I have to admit that it is the main reason I've completely converted from Windows (and am so happy I did, I love it). But the only downside is that it gets a little pricey, and quick.

After a little web research I found this site called Blurb.com which uses the same ink and printers as iPhoto and other high end publishing sites but for much MUCH less. Woohoo! You just download the bookmaker software, upload your photos from your computer (mac or otherwise) and you're off. The only downside is that some of the layout options aren't as user friendly as others such as iPhoto or MyPublisher but the price more than makes up for it in my opinion. Happy digital scrapbook publishing to you all.

Images courtesy of Apple and Blurb

Photoshop here I come

So I may be the only person on earth that has no clue how to do ANYTHING in photoshop, nada. I discovered that we could order the software at a discount since Jared is a full time student (glad there are some kind of perks for paying all this tuition, besides a degree of course) so I ran over to campustech.com and snatched up the new CS3 version with grand hopes of being able to teach myself the ropes in no time. After loading it onto our Mac mini and clicking around for about 30 minutes I had made the same amount of progress I probably would have made by pressing my forehead on the keyboard for 30 minutes straight - wonderful.

So, thoroughly discouraged, I googled everything I could about photoshop for beginners and was quite unsatisfied with the loads of books, DVDs, CDs, and other learning materials I came across. I don't want to read a long book or go through online lessons, I want a download straight to my brain - I just want to know, no learning, just knowing.

After coming back to reality and realizing that I wasn't going to learn through osmosis by holding the box, I found out that the city College Station has tons of "Extra Education" classes (listed here) and Photoshop is one of them - halleluja. Yesterday was my first class and it was awesome. There are ten of us and I'm the youngest by about 40 years, it's so great. I'll never get left behind and I can ask all the questions I want! ( I'm dying to know how my senior citizen classmates even know about Photoshop considering my dad still types with two fingers - love you Dad! )


Anyways, turns out they have tons of cool classes like salsa dancing, basket weaving, critter gardening (not quite sure), guitar basics, and more. Yes, some may be a little geared to grandmas but hey, I like old people and I'm always up for making new friends so my geriatric photoshop class gets two thumbs up.

Feeling like making some stuff...

I get in these kicks every once in a while where I all of a sudden have a million ideas of things I can make/redo around the house and I don't know what to do with them all. Usually this is followed by a trip (or several) to Hobs or Home Depot and each project requires A LOT more time than I originally plan on.

Here are a few that I'm pretty pumped about:

Dark cork board display by design*sponge

Clips for hanging prints by poppytalk

Printable self-mailing notecards from How About Orange

And when I have a lot of time, and the right chair I will attempt to give it as good a makeover as this one also from design*sponge

We'll see how this goes...