Gratitude.

 

Austin sent me this picture of Kleio when I was in San Francisco at the AGU meetings last December. It pretty much sums up how I've been feeling this morning. She looks pretty pathetic and sorry for herself, doesn't she?

I seriously thought about a cop out post about my poor emotional state, but I've had a mental shift. Instead I'm going to post about 5 things I'm grateful for. I used to have a whole gratitude journal I wrote five things in every single day.I still have the journal, but I've been remiss about writing in it lately. Maybe that has something to do with my lack of gratitude induced joy. Hmmm.

In no particular order:

1. Katie Sawicki and the wonders of Pandora knowing just when I need to hear her.

2 Puppies who care so much they become pathetic and sorry for themselves in my absence.

3. Knowing I get to go home to my super cute and sweet and funny husband at the end of the day.

4. The apple, cheddar, and sauerkraut quesadilla I had for lunch.

5. Having the best sister and brother-in-law in the whole world. Happy anniversary!

I feel much better now. Sometimes I just need to shift my perspective a little and thinking about all the awesomeness in my life really helps even when pregnancy has me hormonal and crazy.

Maternity Wardrobe Ideas

I work on a college campus. My job isn't that fancy and I wear jeans most days. From a distance or if you aren't really paying attention I could look like a college student who tries just hard enough to wear a cardigan and a necklace to class.

That's not really an issue until you become pregnant enough for the casual observer to notice. (Which apparently is today. I've had four people I don't know ask me when I'm due since I got to work).

Now, I'm basically the embodiment of every student's worst fears. You can see the terror in their eyes when I walk past.

It's even worse with the groups of high school seniors and their parents here for campus visits, especially the ones with girls.

In good news, I have a design idea for a maternity t-shirt.

 

Not that I think you need all those things. I just think it might make dads with 17 year old daughters feel a little better.

Nightstands

Austin and I need nightstands for the master bedroom. We currently have a single nightstand which is on Austin's side since he is in charge of the alarm clock. That means my glasses an anything I read before bed live on the floor next to the bed. It also means that I can't have a lamp on my side. Both are problematic.

I've had this nightstand pinned to my Things I want to Make board for a while.

Source: ana-white.com via Amber on Pinterest

It's very similar in shape to our current solo one which I love and have considered replicating to have a matching set. I'm also open to nightstands that don't match as long as they "work."

Yesterday I saw this nightstand Shaunna West pinned and had a flash of inspiration.

Source: vintagerevivals.blogspot.com via Amber on Pinterest

I love the color on the before.

I thought that was the answer. Find or make nightstands and paint them awesome distressed green.

Now I'm having some doubts about that.

I'm sure about the shape though. The one we have, the plan I pinned to build, and two others are the same basic structure. 

I would really like to add yellow trim to our sheets to make them more the ones from my Illustrated Discovery Journal.

And I'm thinking I want to make a couple of beer bottle lamps like I have at my Etsy shop, from Life & Limb bottles to solve my lamp issue. I mocked one up so you can get an idea.

And then there is The Bed. Here's a sneak peak at the foot board before my mom added the fancy trim and stained it.

Based on all that I'm thinking maybe green might be too much. What about mustard?

Pretty sure Austin will hate that idea so maybe I just need to make another to match our current one and stick with the distressed black it already is. Hmm.