Shabbyapple-Toe the Line

My old friend Delys is the one that introduced me to Shabbyapple.  She ordered this cream lace dress that was beautiful and modest and since then I had this curiosity about the company.  Curiosity turned into infatuation and I started searching for something that is flattering and functional for a new mama.  Once I saw them go on sale I jumped on the opportunity and I got this dress had to exchange it for a different size 3 times (it's a good thing they have free shipping), and now I love it.  Yay, for cute clothes! Yay, for not having to pull my dress over my head to get access to my goodies in the mothers room!  ...not that I ever did that.

Another story, I have had these red and white shoes for six years now.  I love them but I have just been waiting for the right outfit to wear them with.  So basically our whole marriage (b/c that's how long the shoes have been around) McKay has brought them up in conversation "remember those shoes you never wear?" Well, I am happy to inform him that this is the official outfit to those shoes and now we are unstoppable! haha!

Halloween sneek peek

I have decided that this is not cheating, to see Ellie's costume before Halloween.  That's right, she's an Ellie-phant!  She's just so dang cute and since she is technically only going to wear it for one day I should get as much fun out of it as I want.  This is only part of the costume.  I think babies know when you put them in costumes because the first thing Ellie did was faceplate (in humiliation) and start to cry.  She is so friggin cute! 

That box project

I finally finished that dang box project!  It took me long enough... (6 months, oops)  So here's how I did it.  I mod-podged newspaper onto the face of the drawers and did a light whitewash over it concentrating the paint more in some areas than others to try to create a lost and found effect.  It looked like a bold move as compared to what it was originally. I also ripped out the gross velvety liners that were in the drawers

 Next I sketched out a tree, decided it would look better flipped around, redrew it, and transferred it onto my box.

The original plan was to just to have a silver outline but you couldn't see it very well, especially with the metallic reflection so I filled it in with silver and outlining it in black.

Then I sanded the outside and painted it with leftover paint I had from that crib I made and refinished the top of the box three times because I couldn't decide what I wanted.  I kept the flying birds on the top and I'm fine with that but now I wonder if I'm now one of those people (see video below.)  I seriously hope not though.  That video actually kinda soured the project for me but I kept on running with it even though I kept imagining in a really nasal voice "Hi, I 'm Jessica Willey, and I put birds on things"

After I put new "cooler" liner in the drawers I ripped them out because it didn't go very well together. Kinda frustrating but oh well.

So here it is finished!! The little iron beastie-heads are too cool!

 Usually I am never a fan of the scrapbook paper on furniture type of gal, but for the back i figured it didn't matter, so what the heck.  The sole purpose of this box project was for me to branch out (heh heh get it?) And now I kinda like it.

 In summary I like pecan woodstain and this box..  I'm not sure what it's purpose in life is yet but it will probably hold my pens and paintbrushes.

Lobstah Dinnah

Rachael and Job were kind enough to serve a lobster dinner while I was in Boston. This is my first time trying lobster and I have concluded that it is a delicious vehicle to eat tons of butter.  :) Since my camera died I took these pictures on my little camcorder (hence the quality) but they are fun so I thought I would share.  This is my last Boston post btw.

 just say no to pot

 Job all did the hard work.  Rachael and I just ate.

 Ellie's waiting for the T

 here is Rachael and me and my first ever attempt at wearing an animal printed anything

Here's a video of my Easties girls.  These girls rule. Poor Delys, if you are watching this it probably makes you sad to see us using your old place.  I miss you too.  

Shrieking baby

Ellie's new thing is making high pitched squeaks.  She did it the whole time on the plane from Boston which might have gotten annoying to some people but this is better than crying right?  She gets into these moods where she won't stop doing it.

Whites Tavern

We stayed at Michelle's place in New Hampshire which used to be an old inn/tavern.  There is the main living quarters (which her parents live in) and several small apartments that used to be rooms for the inn (Michelle and her family live in one).  A majority of the things in the house are original including this plaster wall with the stenciling.  There are cracks in the wall and you can see the old horsehair sticking out of it.

M

 Apparently they dug up these old bottles out of the back yard when they were doing some foundation work.  They said that it was just probably where the doctor dumped all his empty bottles of medicine.

 old door handles... this is the type that ghosts like to open!

and then my camera died... oops.

Ogonquit, ME

After hanging out with Emily and Rachael I went with Michelle and Christy to Maine. Christy flew out from Wyoming and Michelle (who is from New Hampshire) picked us all up from Boston.  One of the first places we went was this beach.

 As hard as I tried I couldn't keep Ellie from eating the sand.  I tried to dig a ditch around her chair so she couldn't reach it but she is very fast and determined and ate ten handfuls by the time I was only half finished with the ditch so I gave up and decided to take her down the main drag and go window shopping in the cute little shops.  What's sand going to do? Sandy poop?  For someone who doesn't like to eat textures (like real oatmeal, ect), it sure is strange that she likes to eat sand.

 Gross!

 I also gave Ellie a taste of a lemon.  She has tried them before but they didn't even phase her.  Finally she realized they are sour and started making faces.  Poor girl.

 We went for a walk down Marginal Way.  It was really pretty with tons of flowers on your right and ocean/cliff on your left.

 While we were walking down Marginal Way the tide was out so there was a lot of rocks, tide pools, and little creatures running around

Four pictures in Boston

Downtown with Rachael and Emily

We took the T downtown and these pictures prove how much a busybody Ellie is. This is also the reason why she doesn't take naps outside her crib. Now she is a T expert. Sometimes the random sudden stopping and speeding up that would make her fall back in her seat and tick her off.

 Our first stop was the Omni Parker House Hotel, the birthplace of the Boston Cream Pie. We walked around an got little individual pies for ourselves.

 Our second stop was the four story Forever 21 to help me get some post pregnancy clothes that will look good on my forever changed body.  We shopped till we dropped and until our cart tipped over with so many clothes.  haha.  Thanks to my friends for holding Ellie while I was trying on clothes.

Back in Boston

For the first couple of days we stayed two floors below my old apartment with Rachael and Job.  We hung out with Emily and Brigham too.  It felt so natural to be back with friends it's like we never left.

 Rachael is such a good/exotic cook.  She made ice cream and put strawberries, basil, and mint leaves in it and it was really good.  You should try it sometime.

 Ellie had a fun time exploring her new surroundings, and the whole time I was paranoid about lead paint, so i tried to keep her on the blanket but she's a crawler now and it's hard to keep ahold of her.

 Hanging out with Emily was super fun, we made this beautiful salad.  It was so beautiful that we just had to take a picture of it.

 We also brainstormed together about printmaking, grad school, and other dreams

 Ellie was a good sport throughout the whole thing and we had her sleep in a (clean) tub for one of her naps, b/c in a well lit studio apartment there is no other options.  I laid down a blanket in the tub for extra comfort but there was little else to do.  #smallapartmentproblems  haha