Have a Beautiful Fall Weekend!

* A Glamorous Yet Understated Brooklyn Brownstone via {this is glamorous}



Morning Y'all!  No word on whether my friend Theresa will be coming to live with me, but I, at least, planted the seed.  She would definitely be an investment piece, but I really love her so we'll see.  The gorgeous image above is definitely feeding my Fall fancy for chocolate and white (chocolate is really a much more decadent and sophisticated word for brown don't ya think?). 



I will be traveling with two little ones on a plane this weekend so wish me luck!



Enjoy these links!

From Monday's Moodboard: These Paisley Pillows & This Fabulous Artist

This month's issue of Rue Magazine is really good 

Loving this little outdoor moment

Why moms want to gobble up cute babies 

According to this article, I am a drunk astronaut

 Pink for Fall

Antelope for Less - Yes!

LOL: What Happens When You Send Your Kid To Preschool for the First Time 

A Gorgeous Conservatory Dining Room in Manhattan

Navy Velvet Sofas 

A Heavenly Bathroom

This post on a fabulous Dallas Architect made me homesick 

6 Words to Say to Your Child

Antiquing

Y'all, I'm out at my favorite antique shop and every time I'm here I see this girl and want to bring her home with me.  I think it's the way she looks like she's judging you, even though she takes care of sheep for a living. She owns it. I really want to bring her home with me. Maybe she can be my homegirl in a house full of boys. Like don't mess with Theresa (I just named her that), she'll cut you. 

Have I totally lost my mind? Do you like her? Do I need to get more sleep? 

Antidepressants, Side Effects, and Some Lip Waxing

I don't normally respond to the  negative emails. They're pretty few and far between these days. But one I received this week bothered me, mostly because I hope it isn't true. She said that I presented an unrealistic portrait of antidepressants, that I didn't do a good job of sharing their side effects.

I'd like to go on record as saying that I always respond as truthfully and in detail to anyone who emails me with questions about antidepressants (or as my friend K.D. Reep calls them her "anti-hitting people pills"). Yes. There are side effects. Yes. When you begin taking them you won't feel so hot for a while. And yes. If you decide to stop taking them, you have to wean very, very slowly to avoid more side effects.

But here's the thing. In this life we subject our bodies to many uncomfortable things, things that bring reward in the end. Let's take a look at my short list.

1. Tweazing our eyebrows. Or waxing our eyebrows. Or anything eyebrow related. But we do it. We maintain those suckers. Why? Because no matter how cool she was, not one of us wants to look like Frida Khalo's less creative relative. Not even if we get one of those cool flower wreaths for our hair. Not even then.

2. And while we're on the topic of hair, why stop at the eyebrows?  Why not just address hair removal as a whole. Legs. Arms. Faces. Other locals I shall not mention. We tweeze, pluck, pull, thread, wax and it all hurts. It hurts like the dickens. And what a waste of time! It's all time we could have been using to watch the latest episode of Breaking Bad, or leaning on the kitchen counter eating ice cream. But we like the reward. We like not looking like a pioneer woman with a 5 o'clock shadow.

3. Shopping for jeans. This doesn't necessarily cause physical discomfort, but it feels like a branding iron on the old ego. Shopping for jeans for those of us who have had children and don't run marathons or skirt the edges of an eating disorder is like trying to find the most flattering brand of cling wrap. But we do it. Why? Not because it's fun, but because we don't want to be arrested for public nudity because we didn't have a pair of jeans. And also because our great aunt will write about it in her Christmas news letter.

4. Working out. The sweat. The muscle craps. The chaffing. The horrendous moment when you're running and you think, "Eh. I should not have eaten that plate full of broccoli for lunch." Let's face it. 99% of us would much rather be taking a nap, eating a bowl full of sugary cereal, or reading a book. But we still work out. Why? Lots of reasons. Blood pressure. Longevity. The above mentioned jean shopping. We don't like it, but we like the reward, so we do it. 

5. Childbearing. This is the queen mother. This is the thing we do to ourselves voluntarily that is unthinkable. We vomit. We lay in bed with exhaustion. We gain weight. Our ankles get huge. Our hormones take over to the point that *we* watch National Velvet and end up screaming at the screen, "RUN YOU LAZY B#ST*RD, RUN! And of course by we, I mean me. Then, when we've reached the size of a beached whale, and our hip bones actually expand wider, we give birth. I could resurrect the old "watermelon through a hole the size of a lemon" simile but you've heard it. But we do it. We do it because it brings new life, it brings family, it brings love so big it makes our hearts feel like they might explode.

In summation, yes, perhaps my cart ran away with the horses a bit in this blog post. I blame National Velvet. But I'm trying to make a very important point. Yes, side effects are real. But when compared to the things we voluntarily do to ourselves on a daily basis... it's not that big of a deal. And more importantly, when you compare those side effects with DAILY MENTAL HEALTH AND PEACE... it's not much of an excuse. 

Antidepressants saved my life. I'll go way out on a limb here and say that they may have saved my marriage (or at least made it a heck of a lot more happy than it was before). They make me a better mother. They keep my anxiety disorder in check. 

Like waxing my lip, or working out, or having Jane... it's worth it.

Brown & White (omg)

I always make these bold proclamations like: "I'm just not a brown person" or "I hate orange and black (ahem Halloween)."  Then I inevitably see something that I love that completely contradicts what I just declared.



Exhibit A.



This pillow from Pottery Barn.

It's brown and white.  The Suze and I popped into Pottery Barn yesterday, and for some reason, this pillow caught my eye. I kinda want to go back and get it.  It's really pretty in person.  I've spent the better part of my four years of marriage eradicating the color brown from our decor, so you can imagine Kip's shock (and subsequent high-five) when I told him I wanted to do brown and white in the new library we are building.  I know, "quelle horreur!" But it's my vision.   



So ya, the library.  We are in the early stages, but we're planning to
make the formal living room into a cozy wood-paneled library so Kip can
realize his manly dream of having walls of wood and a leather chair. 
And really, I want him to have it.  He deserves it.  I also happen to love the look of
lots of white linen with brown brought in by natural elements like wood
and leather.



I'm thinking a pretty white linen slip-covered English roll-arm sofa like this:

And a big cozy, over-sized leather chair, like this:

I know it's starting to look like a Pottery Barn catalog, but, y'all, I really like their stuff right now.  It's all very classic, which is sort of what I'm craving at the moment.  Classic pieces that I can zhuszh up at my own fancy.  It might have something to do with the plethora (love that word, see below) of presents Edward received for his birthday.  They bring a lot of, well, color to the house, if you will.



So that's where my head is right now.  Fall.  Brown.  White.  Clean.  Crisp.



P.S. This conversation happened at Pottery Barn yesterday...



Me: I love all of the white they have for Fall.

The Suze:  I know! They've come to the ... er ... dark ... er ... dark side? No, that doesn't work.  Oh well, whatever.

Happy Birthday Edward!

Today my sweet Edward turns 3! I can hardly believe it.  He's like a little person now! He can have semi-grownup conversations, albeit peppered with the occasional dragon-spotting or dinosaur roar.  It is a fascinating age - hilarious and fun. 



I have to give a shout-out to my very talented neighbor Samantha Gleaton of Samantha Gleaton Photography who beautifully captured the look that melts my heart every day.  This picture is so amazing to me.  Now everyone can see what I hold in my heart.



Have a lovely day! 



* If you are in Kansas City and have a child you want photographed, call her stat. 

A+ September

It does not get better than this past weekend. Beautiful weather. Dinners with friends. New haircut, color and manicure. Fun at the park. My continued war on the brown walls upstairs. That last part may not sound like fun to other people, but with each stroke of the paintbrush I felt victorious. I felt like yelling, " BE GONE, PUTRID FLESH COLORED 1991 BROWN PAINT!" In fact, I may have done just that a couple of times before Matt asked if I'd taken my medication.



All joking aside, the entire 2nd floor of our house looks nothing like the ground floor. Shaggy carpet, banged up trim, dingy doors, cloudy windows, mildewed bathrooms. The upstairs is a bit "fixer" in style. But that's alright. I'm just taking my time, tackling things as they come.



 I'm  also planning Jane's "big girl room" and it's so fun. I'm excited for her to move out of her small nursery and into a big room with lots of space to play and run. White walls, lace curtains, twinkle lights, vintage bed frame... truthfully I'll probably be a little jealous once it's all said and done.



So that's us. We're just painting and park playing and thoroughly enjoying this A+ September.



I can't imagine a happier beginning to the fall season.

Moodboard Monday: Family Room TV Chairs

Not Your Grandmas TV Trays

Morning y'all!  I came across these fabulous lucite TV trays on Mecox Gardens' Instagram and the wheels started turning in my head.  I'm thinking they would be perfect when I get two new cozy chairs to replace our current loveseat.  I don't know when that will happen, but I'm already dreaming up our family room redo. 



It's no secret that I've threatened to sell all of my family room furniture on Craigslist.  It worked great in the old house, but it doesn't work as well in our new house.  Kip is hesitant because of the whole messy children thing, but I just think it's silly to put off having the home you want because your children might mess it up. I may be a bigger mess than my kids anyway. 



So here's part of the family room redo I'm envisioning.  Imagine this with these ghost trays in front of the chairs.

Speaking of TV chairs, how excited are y'all about Fall TV?? What are your favorite shows? Any new shows that you're excited about? Do tell.

Sunday Slim Down

             

Well y'all I said I would write about it so I'm gonna. The dreaded post-baby weight loss.  For some people it's not an issue (side-eye The Duchess of Cambridge), but for me it takes a lot of effort. Like Jessica Simpson effort. 



No no no. Like. Britney. Spears. Effort. 

Rember this?!! I never wanted to be Britney Spears more than I did at this moment.  

It took me two years to lose the weight I gained with Edward. Everyone was all, "oh you'll lose sooo much weight from nursing.  You'll probably be like too skinny." Liars.  I nursed Edward for 14 months and only after I stopped nursing did I lose those last 20 lbs! Really? Soo I'm determined to get back to normal this time around and I'm enlisting y'all's help in keeping me accountable. 

I just want to fit into my clothes and have energy. Oh to have energy!! My 3-year-old is an energy black hole.  Like light bends around him and Stephen Hawking needs to come study him. He eats like one peanut butter cracker and is good to run 85 laps around the house.  I cannot keep up. 

I'll try and share a few little tips and healthy recipes I come across along the way. Don't worry I won't get all GOOP-y and smug.* I am no weight loss expert. If I were, I'd be skinny duh. But hopefully by writing about it, I can keep myself focused, learn a little bit and shed some light (in a light-hearted way) on something that occupies my mind about as much as much as the next blue and white vase I'm coveting. 

So here are my current long term goals: 

1. Lose the baby weight (20 lbs of the 40 lbs to go) 

2.  Run some kinda K. 5K? 10K? We'll see. 

3.  Lose the "I got married and comfortable weight" (10 more lbs) 

4.  And then 10 more lbs for the "omg you look amazing, WHAT are you doing?!" comment. 

Here's what I don't do:  I don't do juice fasts or smoothie diets or cleanses, I don't do marathons or triathlons (I'm not great at bike riding and I have horrible feet and knees) and I don't do fad diets. 

Here's what I DO do: I try to track my calories, exercise and eat. And I try to eat healthy, but sometimes I don't. 

TRACKING MY CALORIES

I use Myfitnesspal to track my calories. If you're on there, add me as a friend. My username is Jhadley32.  Here is a great review of the Myfitnesspal app
that pretty much echos how I feel about it.  I will probably do a post
about my calorie tracking in a couple weeks after I've been doing it for
awhile.  

EXERCISE

Right now I just do Bar Method.  I'm obsessed.  Ask anybody who's had a conversation with me in the past 10 months.  I always find a way to talk to people about it.  I did it up until 3 weeks before I delivered Christopher and it helped keep me in decent shape while I was pregnant.  It's so much easier to do now without The Bump, but the ab work gets me every time. 

This week I'm going to throw in this little 100 Calorie burner thing I found on Pinterest to help keep me under my calorie goal each day.  We'll see if it helps.  I need quick workouts.  Gone are the days of the long leisurely workouts.  



 





EATING

I love to eat.  I eat a lot.  Sometimes too much and sometimes not enough.  Nursing leaves me ravenous and that has been something I'm trying to deal with.  Sleep deprivation leaves me craving bagels and Cokes.  That has been my biggest challenge.  I'm a little bit Godzilla with food when I'm nursing.  I'm kind of a monster.  I don't feel my normal hunger cues.  Nursing adds a whole new element to losing the baby weight that I will go into more in a later post as well. 

Ok, I guess.

I could do better. 

I lost nine-tenths of a pound last week. I'd like to make it to an entire pound next week. (But the pizza and cake I ate at Edward's bday party yesterday might suggest otherwise)

I'll have to do a little bit better. Y'all have any tips? (No juice fasts.  No ma'am.  Unless it's like a 5-hour juice fast, then I can do it.  But honestly, I don't even like juice, unless it's like grape juice - of the wine variety)

I'll just be doing this on Sundays so if you think it's dumb or self-indulgent feel free to skip it. 

And that's my big long intro. Check back next Sunday to see how I did this week! (Spoiler alert: I haven't been great this weekend so I'm going to have to work hard all week) 

* I had a dream last night that a momma beluga whale was chasing me because I got in between her and her baby, but then Gwyneth Paltrow saved me. I'm pretty sure that's the all-time greatest metaphor for my struggle with baby weight. 

 

 

** I made this for a Tailgate Themed Meal for my mom's group and it was sooo good. 

Have a Lovely Weekend!!

* I LOVE this entry! It's probably the flowers that are really doing it for me, but I love the touch of leopard and the gorgeous graphic floor next to the neutral stairs.  This whole image pleases me to no end. 

Haaaa! Ooops! So much for being back to blogging. Like I always say to Edward, we will try again. Next week. 

If you follow me on Instagram, you would see that I can't keep up with email either. The new iPhone iOS 7 update exposed me. Before I had a nice and manageable 25 unread emails, but then I updated my phone and BAM!  2,018 unread emails in ma face! Agghh! Rude! (I know, rude of me too, sorry if you emailed me). 

And speaking of updates, I'm not a fan of the new iOS 7 - that update that Apple had me do last night without warning (for those of you who don't have iPhones, you'll have no idea what I'm talking about).  Tech-wise I have no idea about anything, but I'm more concerned about the visual. It's waay too bright and flat and very 1992. And I'm way too sleep-deprived to handle this kind of dramatic change. I also have the "Zach Morris phone" of iPhones so it's kind of slow.  Anyway, that's my rant/review for the week. Boy do I sound cranky! 

I hope y'all have a lovely weekend!! Enjoy some of these linkies (with some pumpkin beer drinkies): 

I used these Dinosaur invitations for Edward's 3rd Birthday Party this weekend 

Also, Edward's Halloween Costume 

If you have a little girl and you want her to be soo cool for Fall, check out this Fall Slideshow from Little Bean - and if you're not following Little Bean on Instagram, not only are you missing out on awesome children's fashion, but also the amazing cuteness of my soon-to-be niece (ya I'm totally claiming her as mine)

 A Pretty Blue & White Vignette

A nice little roundup of pretty blue and white things

A lovely white and wood cottage

I have a whole Pinterest Board dedicated to White & Wood - I love that look

This blue and white gown

20 Blue and White Family/Living Rooms

I'm sensing a pillow binge will be happening soon

BEFORE & AFTER:  This house is really, really fantastic - so my style

LOL: This video of the Highland Belles halftime performance has me nostalgic for my days on the drill team (yes I was a Belle a long, long, long time ago), but more importantly, the video shows a Dude who sounds an awful lot like Dax Shepherd go from skeptic to full blown fan. 

Throw Mama From The Slide

Sometimes life just hands you a pearl. For instance,  I was skyping with Rebecca (my sister in China) and we were discussing books.



She said, "Yeah, my college professor assigned us East of Eden once, so I bought the book. I kept reading it and thinking, 'But this can't be Steinbeck? It's kind of dirty.' And then I realized the book I bought was Exit to Eden, not East of Eden. So that explained why the sales lady gave me a funny look."



See? It was like the universe said, "I'm sorry it's Wednesday, Liz. This week has been a bummer. Here, here's a pick-me-up. Laugh at your sister."



Apparently, the universe thought Jane needed a pick-me-up this weekend, as she discovered the joys of pushing me down the slide.

Truthfully, she enjoyed pushing me because she didn't want to slide herself. She tried it once, got tangled up and went down butt first. Afterwards she decided her sense of survival was stronger than her need for adventure.

But after a while, I began to feel a bit, what's the word? Abused. She got this wild look in her eyes and it quickly became apparent that this was more about revenge than fun. This was about payback.

"Remember that time you gave me a pink hair bow and I specifically asked for red?"

 "Remember when I put necklaces and a hat on Mabel and you told me that Mabel didn't want to play princess with me?"

"Or that time I tried to pee standing up like the little boys in my daycare class and you told me I had to sit?"

"You're going down old woman."

"Just wait. Just wait until I choose your home. I'll make sure you have brown walls and the cafeteria serves lots of noodle salad."

And did I mention that after a certain amount of slide induced static build up I was my own personal battery? Every time I touched the slide a shock traveled through my fingers and out my teeth. Normally this sort of irritating, and recurring, pain would make me curse, but I couldn't do that since Jane was maintaining constant vigil over my speed, saying things like, "Hurry up, Mommy! SLIDE MOMMY!"

After 4,000 trips down Jane's slide of revenge I was done. This, of course, made the Janester furious, and all the way home she kept repeating, "We slide later." An outsider would listen to her chirp "we slide later" and hear an angelic little chirpy voice. I, on the the other hand, know better. I know she was really threatening me with future sessions of static shock and being pushed off tall objects.



This is what comes from throwing mama off the slide.