So - I wonder if they would notice if I moved in? This is one of those images that I can just walk around in... if I focus hard enough, I can smell the moss and the damp brick.

And there is nothing better than a big bright red door. With matching windows!

Already???

What the hell! Christmas totally snuck up on me this year. A week from Friday! The tree is up, the decorating (that is - toddler proof decorating) is done, most of the shopping is done. Phew - just got some wrapping and neatening up to in the matter of presents. So really, I am actually mostly ready...it just feels like I'm not for some reason. Maybe it's all the other stuff that's going on (at work) that makes it feel rather unChristmasey.
And yes, that is a word dammit. Because I said so.

Now, time to find some of that old fashioned boiled candy! And procure lots of wine. And Evan Williams Eggnog. Can't have enough of that stuff - yummy!!

Crowder Water

For those "in the know" Crowder Water is a Gin & Tonic. So needless to say this just might have to end up in my wardrobe:



Crowder Water and Cashmere together at last! A match made in Heaven!
Suddenly, I am thirsty.

what i have been up to while not posting

As told by photographs!
These are in no real order - and they are from Oyster Festival weekend (Nov 4-7).

Freya making a run for the water, thwarted.

A family portrait, on Urbanna Creek.

Freya on Phil and Joy's front porch.

Showing her new trick - going GRRR!

Sleepy baby, early Friday, watching Sesame Street.

At the most perfect diner ever - Dot's in Richmond.

Playing on the pier.

The Coast Guard is out - so is the baby life jacket.

It was a fantastic trip... we all had a blast. Can't wait for next year!

Oh Dear

This should come as no surprise to anyone: I cruse like a sailor on shore leave. And I have had a very hard time trying to clean up my potty mouth, also not so surprising. So the following should come as no surprise either: my daughter has picked up on my favorite curse word. She did this a while ago, I noticed when she dropped her monkey and as she was picking it up I heard her say "oh, shit".

I, still think that this is funny as hell. It did however help me in getting my potty mouth in order. Currently my favorite thing to say in stead of Shit is Oops. Rutabaga is right up there too as well as nonsensical things like Murrrrr.

Shockingly, she hasn't picked up the Eff-bomb. Which is rather odd, as her father can't get though a sentence without at least on.

Outstanding!

A letter to a patron of a library explaining why the library is not going to remove a book from their shelves. This has to be one of the best letters addressing such a heated subject matter.

http://jaslarue.blogspot.com/2008/07/uncle-bobbys-wedding.html

Lists

Things I Miss:

Real hardwood floors.
A house with personality.
My flat belly.
Disposable income.
Living in the city.
Artistic endeavors.
Sassy.
The carefree days before I had dogs.
Not having a house covered in Lab hair.
My god - the hair!
Having a house that was easy to keep clean.
Having an established garden that I got to play with.

Things I Love:

My husband and daughter.
That I have a backyard big enough for Maggie to hit top speed.
Tank tops in January.
Flips year round.
Walking at the park.

Oh, Dear

I am in deep love of this Fall's Kate Spade line of clothing of all things. Take a look: has anyone ever seen a larger collection of Perfect Sivy Wardrobe Items EVER????

Example A:

red sweater dress and funky knee socks.

Example B:

cute little shirt dress and cashmere cardigan.

Example C:

same cardigan and oh dear god I NEED THAT DRESS!!!

Example D:

super mom! in a fantastic tweed coat!

Example E:

here i am juggling a bird cage and all these empty frames...

The only problem??? Now I want to cut bangs.

How Am I Suppose To Resist

When the add campaign's are so cute????

Here we have a sweet kate spade ad, not that I need much convincing in the kate spade realm of things.

And then there is this lovely from J. Crew - the crewcuts line for little's. I could just eat this up. It reminds me of an e.e. cummings poem...

"and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope"

Thankfully I don't have the same reaction to the adult advertisements, other than wanting to paint my nails orange, and Freya isn't big enough to fit the clothing yet. Or we would have to ban me from the internets. But it's sooo cute is only gonna work once or twice...

Cutie-Pie

Some random pictures from the last month or so - although I think that the ice cream picture is from May... Anyway! The pool is at the top of our subdivision and is totally ignored until about 1 in the afternoon. Perfect time for us to go and play!! We go around 10:30 when it's quite warm (the water is like bath water warm).


So here we are at the pool. Looking sort of concerned, actually. She really did have a blast.



And here we are eating an ice cream. This child LOVES her some ice cream.



And here we are playing peek-a-boo. She likes to hide behind the rocking chair - where else! I takes an act of congress to get the chair out of the corner (it's smooshed between the crib and the secretary). And, more importantly, Moose has trouble reaching her for licks.

Updates!

My God. I just watchted an ad that had a man shaivng his chest. I like that sort of thing to stay a mystery. Because otherwise I start to get skived out.

In other news..... I have a daughter that is walking, nay running! All over the place. She can not be stopped. Also, everyone and everything is Puppy. In case you were wondering.

Current obessions: Torchwood, Lemoncello, Boston and my LSAT. I am also vascellating between cutting all my hair off or letting it get really long....

Read Out Loud - it's an order.

The Fairy Reel
by Neil Gaiman

If I were young as once I was, and dreams
and death more distant then,
I wouldn't split my soul in two, and keep
half in the world of men,
So half of me would stay at home, and
strive for Faerie in vain,
While all the while my sould would stroll up
narrow path, down crooked lane,
And there would meet a fairy lass and
smile and bow with kisses three,
She'd pluck wild eagles from the air and
nail me to a lighting tree
And if my heart would run from her or
flee from her, be gone from her,
Until one day she'd tire of it, all bored
with it and done with it
She'd leave it by a burning brook, and off
brown boys would run with it.
They'd take it and have fun with it and
stretch it long and cruel and thin,
They'd slice it into four and then they'd
string with it a violin.
And every day and every night they'd
play upon my heart a song
So plaintive and so wild and strange that
all who heard it danced along
And sang and whirled and sank and trod and
skipped and slipped and reeled and rolled
Unitl, with eyes as bright as coals, they'd
crumble into wheels of gold....

But I am young no longer now; for sixty
years my heart's been gone
To play its dreadful music there, beyond
the valley of the sun.
I watch with envious eyes and mind, the
single-souled, who dare not feel
The wind that blows beyond the moon,
who do not hear the Fairy Reel.
If you don't hear the Fairy Reel, they will
not pause to steal your breath.
When I was young I was a fool. So wrap
me up in dreams and death.

Reasons I Would Make A Bad Buddist

In keeping with piffle, I am going to start to post about my current fashion, and as such this is my latest item to DROOOOL over:

It does that lovely mix of dressy for work and funky for casual. For some reason, I always get preppy in the late spring and summer. Must be all those cool crisp khaki pants and white tops. And because, I am really not all that preppy, I use things like the watch above to funk things up.


Also, watches and purses are so much more fun than cardigans.



And then there are the shoes. I don't really need any shoes for right now, except for maybe a pair of cute flats. I need boots for the fall. So here are the current contenders:

The Millie from the ever funky Dr. Martin, because they would look SO good with my black and gray skirts. Of which there are many. And while I love my boots with the cute little heel's, sometimes you just need a good pair of stompy-boots.

These lovelies are the Brixie by Fitzwell. I stumbled upon them and have been drooling ever since. I like the dark brown, and the mid-calf shaft means that they should fit my athletic legs with no problem. Now, I just need to find myself a pair of red pointy boots and I'll be set!

As for clothing, this is a very hard time of year for me. Because I can't remember the last time that my legs saw the sunlight, and because I gained a Backstreet Boy while I was knocked up, I can scar small children for life by wearing shorts. I am giving self tanner a whirl, and bit the bullet and got some white shorts. I should also mention that I am eating better and exercising again, and things will return to acceptable levels soon. Because I'm sure that this poor boy would love to get back to not making records, or whatever in the hell the Backstreet Boys are doing now. The most pressing "issue" (a funny concept considering the amount of clothing) is going to be blending the wardrobe so that it is all fun and pretty and not as segregated. I have a tendency to group and wear all black and gray or all brown and red. Should be easy enough to get things to play nicely: accessories baby!

I have started my "for fall" list, because what I think that I want is so important that I have to tell the Internet. But, the idea here is FOCUS. I need to keep to my list this year! Last year I ended up with about 7,000 pairs of black pants. Handy, but boring. So, this year the search is on for a pair of dark orange boot cut (the bigger the bell the better) corduroys (or chino's - its the color not the fabric). What are the chances?? It's fun to have that thing you search the Internet till it's dry for! That's what lunch breaks are for, right??

And, just maybe - I'll even post some pictures of me in my glorious outfits! What fun! Now where is that camera??

Kisses!

I ignore you for months, with just sporadic posting. My poor unloved little blog. Time to come out from underneath the rock again. Funny, I get cranky with people that don't post on the blogs I love to read, and here I am, doing the same shit. Except that i don't have the "i have a super busy life.." to fall back onto. I am just lazy. But, I promise dear little blog, I will try to do better.

And look - 2 posts in one day! Back to back even! Now (dun dun dunnnnn) can I keep it up??

Stay tuned.

(Because I'm sure you really want to know all about the diet and insane outfits that I put together. I know. You can't help yourselves. Nothing like the train-wreck of a squidgy almost 35 year old trying to look like she has a clue.)

Already!

My daughter is already so much cooler than I am. I thought that I would have a little bit longer...

All About the Fluff

To continue with my almost never posting, a nice little fluff piece dedicated to my closet. Because I am slowly loosing all the baby weight (a little too slowly... but I'm not giving up the booze) I have been needing to go through all my stuff, and see what is still a little tight and what has gotten to large. I have found that this is one of my favorite things to do once the kid is down for the night. Take a drink, go into my closet and just organize it to within an inch of it's life.

One thing I have been doing for ages is to make lists of items that I want, or really like. An example looks like this:
Jeans
Red/orange pants
some white tops
I may love making the lists more than actually shopping (that would have NOTHING AT ALL to do with still having weight to loose). I also have become adept at seeing things in a store, and then about 2 or 3 months later being all: "duuude! why didn't i get that (insert cute item here) when i saw iiiittttt???" or seeing something on a someone whose style I like, and then starting the obessive search for said item (that is usually 5 years old). I am truly fun to live with.


Pretty soon my sights will shift from being all about ME! ME! ME! to beating the rest of the house deocrating into submission. The house, I may have mentioned before - I don't remember - is quite large so just in cases: the house is about twice the size of houses we used to have. And has a "modern" open floor plan. Which really just means that there is lots of wall space that makes up 2 or 3 rooms and makes painting a pain in the ass. The house is painted a sickly shade of builder beige, and while we don't like it, so far there hasn't been the "oh god! must paint over this NNNOOOWWW!"

Dude - I started this damn entry almost a month ago! I rule.

Anyway, it is time to start getting the house ready for the impending first birthday party. God help us all!!

FOUND!

It took almost 2 years, but I have found it; the "perfect" white bag is MINE ALL MINE!!! (insert evil laughter here)
Here is a pictured of the bag:

It very nicely works as a tote and also has a strap for slinging it over my shoulder when getting Freya into or out of the car because I can't seem to be able to streamline the whole getting going in the morning thing.
Many thanks for the super gorgeous suggestions - lots of drooling was involved looking at them. I found this bag at New York & Company via the website like.com. And if the truth were told what makes it perfect is that I could go and get it on my lunch break and that it came in at under $40.

Ode To a Target Wine Cube

Also known as sometimes the stress of finishing an entire bottle before it gets that nasty vinegar edge to it is too much when one goes to bed at 9 p.m.

Wine from a box is hardly something that I would consider as a fantastic thing. That was before I discovered the Wine Cube at Target. Take a nice wine (award winning even) and put 2 bottles worth into a cute little square that fits nicely on the kitchen counter.

I guess when the most stressful thing going on is whether or not I can finish a bottle of wine, things must be going pretty well!

In other news, Freya had her tear ducts opened last week. It was a huge success! She doesn't look like she's always crying. Now I just gotta get the chapped cheeks under control. Oh, and you know you are a new mother when you kick a nasty diaper rash to the curb and want to brag about it to everyone you work with.

"Hey Sivy! What did you do this weekend?"

"OH! Just kicked some diaper rashes ass!!"

Yeah, I'm totally the party girl! Here it is, only Tuesday and I am planning my weekend: I WILL go to Ikea if it kills me (need a comforter cover, toddler tubby and Swedish meatballs) and I need to hit the super-mega Target and get me some wine cubes. At $10 a piece -LOVE-!!!

The Elusive

I have started on a quest - to find the perfect white bag. My prize has become probably the most elusive thing I have ever decided to search for. I don't want anything very expensive, because however much I am longing for the PWB, I am also fickle. And will suddenly decide that the PWB is dead to me, and I must carry this lovely orange bag I just found at Target instead. I guess that I would help if I had some inkling of what I wanted style wise - tote or hobo or some cross-body thing. Currently I am leaning toward hobo, and thinking leather or a nice pleather. Because as much as I don't want to spend big bucks, I also don't want the damn thing to fall apart on me. Or get all scuzzy looking and have no cleaning options.

Sigh.

I did get my pedicure, and my toes look wonderful! My hair however is still a tragic mess because I can't decide what I want to do with it. One day I want to shave my head and the next I want it all piled up in a messy knot. Actually - it spends most of it's time up in a messy knot. I really should just get over myself and get it cut already. Sheesh. I'm acting like it won't grow back or something.

Anything else??? Not really - I'm getting ready to do yet another purge of the closet. I have managed to go down a size or two since last spring (when I was the size of an ocean liner). I really enjoy cleaning out the closet and making it a nice and tidy. Makes room for pretty new clothing. I'm thinking that this spring I am going to focus on dresses and skirts. And see if I can finally find an apple green cardigan (ooh - perfect with the white pants).

I seem to be doing a lot of searching for elusive items... I also want a pretty sundress (instead of you know an ugly dress, lord) for Freya's birthday. Her cute dress will be much easier to find, the stores are full of cute as hell brown and pink polka-dot's!

Off to search the interweb's for a white bag, because I haven't already worn a hole in the search engine's yet...

Bound to Happen

I have come to the conclusion that I need a really good hair cut. I have been sporting a long and for the most part shapeless mop for the better part of 5 years. There have been several short (but bad) cuts in there, but ever since I decided that I needed to grow my hair out for my wedding (in 2004) I have pretty much worn my hair pulled up in a knot on my head. And now that I have gone back to dying my hair, I should really get a good cut because it's really starting to look like Moose has been chewing on my hair. But therein lies a problem. My stylist is in Richmond, and I haven't really found someone down here yet, for under$100. I should really start looking for a salon... close to the house and not full of it's own importance.

As for the cut, that is also a problem... I like my long mop, but for the last several months I have really wanted a short bob type thing. Some examples of what I am thinking about:

Option 1

OR

Option 2

I think it really depends on how I decide on side swept bangs. Always something that I get all wound up about, always forgetting how much I HATE them after about a week. So I guess it's safe to say option 1 is looking like the front runner. Until I get in the chair and suddenly want something NEW and DIFFERENT and SHINY and by god I have a hair dryer and fancy Aveda products and I'm not afraid to use them!!

And really, isn't it about time that I start to take as much care of myself as I do everyone else? I got a gift certificate for a pedicure for Christmas and may just get a haircut at the same time. And I might even get my eyebrows waxed. And who knows I just might dye my hair burgundy for the hell of it!

New Year

I found this on another blog that I read and it is the perfect poem for how I have been feeling for the last week or so:

IT IS TIME TO TIDY UP YOUR LIFE

It is time to tidy up your life!
Into your body has leaked this message.
No conscious actions, no broodings
Have brought the thought upon you.
It is time to take into account
What has gone and what has replaced it.
Living your life according to no plan
The decisions were numerous and
The ways to go were one.
You stand between trees this evening;
The cigarette in your cupped hand
Glows like a flower.
The drizzle falling seems
To wash away all ambition
There are scattered through your life
Too many dreams to entirely gather.
Through the soaked leaves, the soaked grass,
The earth-scents and distant noises
This one thought is re-occurring.:
It is time to take Into account what has gone,
To cherish and replace it.
You learnt early that celebrations
Do not last forever,
So what use now the sorrows that mount up ?
You must withdraw your love from that
Which would kill your love.
There is nothing flawless anywhere,
Nothing that has not the power to hurt.
As much as hate, tenderness is the weapon of one
Whose love is neither perfect nor complete.

- Brian Patten

Something about January makes me want to tidy everything and clean up all the messes. Maybe because of all the (happy) clutter that is Christmas? I don't know. But right now I want nothing more than to clean the ever-loving hell out of my house. Which can be rather a depressing and monumental undertaking with 3 super shedding animals. I swear Moose exhales and there is a big poof of dog hair.

Helping in my desire to clean and then to re-decorate the house, is the commitment issues that winter weather seems to have this year. It has been very warm, and while I would love January to behave like January, I must say I do like wearing my tank top's and sitting outside. (What is really funny to me: people who wear super puffy down coats when it is 61 and sunny outside.) And the warm weather means open windows. And for some reason that makes me want to CLEAN! Except that I am also LAZY! And I would rather whine about the house being a haven for shedded dog hair, because it is much more fun to roll around on the floor with Freya. Who cares if we end up smelling like old sweat socks??