Introducing...

And the baby is...

...a BOY!! 8 lbs 12 oz, 20 inches long. Name is still undecided. Mama and baby are doing well.

Playroom

I forgot to post pictures of our finished basement, which has been converted to a playroom. I love my basement now. It's so nice and refreshing to walk down the stairs and actually see drywall up, paint, recessed lighting, a ceiling and flooring. I'm starting to enjoy doing my laundry. And most importantly, my kids love it. This is where all their toys are located. Where they can run around and be crazy. And make a mess. Lucas and Stella both have their own little play area, and I love to see their imagination expand. Our contractor built a huge closet for me, so I can store jewelry packaging material, gift wrapping supplies, craft projects, books and large toys.

Because it's a basement, I wanted to make it colorful, bright and light so it didn't feel like a dungeon, and it would be inviting for the children to play. I bought colorful, striped rugs that were on sale at Pottery Barn. The bookshelves, TV stand and sofa bed are from Ikea. I didn't want a lot of furniture down there because it would restrict the children's play area. I also bought the cable picture gallery system at Ikea. Stella loves this because she can display her artwork. We are also going to change it out with the holidays. In the future, I'll get some prints to hang on the wall.

Organic and Golden

I have finally put up new styles on my website from my Organic and Golden collection. Hope you like it. There are a few styles that I just love, love, love. And I still have a few other styles that need to go up but this will have to do for now. Check it out here.

Twilight

I really like the Instyle photoshoot of a few Twilight cast members in this month's issue. Okay, I beg to differ on those who say Robert Pattinson is not hot enough to play the role of Edward. He's hot, but we will see how his acting will be. Well, when the movie comes out I'll be in the hospital so please don't tell me your thoughts on the flick. Anyone want to wait until next week to see the movie with me? Click on the picture to get a close up.

Five Days and Counting...

It's finally hit me. The nesting mood. And I only have less than five days left to get prepared. I'm getting nervous. I've notice my heart has been beating faster the last couple of days. I hope the transition from two to three will be smooth, not rough like it was from one to two. We still don't have names picked out--none. But we can't leave the hospital without the baby having a name so we'll figure out something. My list of things to do is long, mostly cleaning and last minute errands and a few organizing. So, I'm counting down but not really. Not until this nesting mood is more under control.

Wellies

It rains a lot here. Actually it's raining right now. And since my feet have grown a whole size up, my rainboots are too small. The last time I wore them, Seth had to use all of his strength and might to pull them off. I don't dare to put them on again. So I want to buy some new ones and I covet the classic Hunter rainboots. They are a little out of my price range, but I love how they are timeless--no colorful patterns.

Craft Pudding

Here is a perfect little Christmas gift by Craft Pudding to give to a friend or yourself. I would like to get it for Stella so I can stamp her belongings before they head off to preschool.

Posters

The Small Stakes have posters that are graphic, quirky and quite cool.

Intrepid

In celebration of Veteran's Day, we headed over to the Intrepid Museum yesterday to celebrate their grand re-opening of the historical aircraft carrier. When the Intrepid relocated two years ago to be renovated, we were kicking ourselves because we didn't take the opportunity to see all the airplanes and helicopters. But now we have seen it and it was awesome! And what was also cool was that we got tickets half off and children were free because we (and along with everyone else trying to get in) had to wait two hours in the freezing cold while President Bush extended his tour of the museum. The waiting wasn't so cool. Anyway, there was a lot of veterans who came out and it was nice to thank them for their service.

On the rooftop of the Intrepid with the city's skyline in the background.

My regular jacket--can't believe it once fit me.

Pretty Bridge

A pretty bridge I came across in Central Park the other day. I think I've seen it before on previous strolls, but for some reason I took notice this time.

Flip

We bought a Flip camera and so far really like it. Yeah, it's simple and cheap. No fanciness. But that's okay for us. We weren't looking for a camcorder with all the bells and whistles. We bought it to capture our kids...and this new little one that is coming. Some of the things we like is that it's the size of a wallet and takes two AA batteries.

The Lucky 10

Today is our big whooping 10-year anniversary! Can you believe it? 10 years. Tonight I was looking through some old pictures of us--we sure had a lot of fun just the two of us the first six years of marriage. Wow, how much our lives have changed now that we have children--but only for the better. It makes life more beautiful and meaningful. And although (I'm going to be honest here) I was a little annoyed to be pregnant during this celebratory year, I feel blessed and honored to bring another life into our family. I think of this child as our milestone anniversary gift--what can be any better than that. We are keeping it simple--just a date to enjoy each other's company. We are saving our romantic-getaway trip hopefully for next year when I'm not so large. Anyway, thanks honey for being such wonderful husband and father and making me feel sexy when I feel like a beached whale.

Kitchen Renovation

Love this kitchen renovation. And one of the main reason why is because they did more updating than gutting. Lots of good ideas. You can see the step-by-step process here.

Cable Slippers

These darling cable slippers are on my list of purchases to get before I have this baby.

3+Birthdays=NYC

Three of my girlfriends had their birthday within a month period, so a girl's day out with friends was definitely called for. We left our babies with the husbands this past Saturday and headed into the city to enjoy a few hours of girl talk, pampering and of course yummy food. We went and got mani-pedi's at Renew and Relax then headed over to Max Brenner for some brunch and of course divulge ourselves in satiable chocolate. We heard from one lady at the spa that Max's chocolate is better than the "o" word. Well I do have to admit it was quite divine. I hope all the birthday girls had as much fun as I did!

Peek...

Peek...aren't you curious is a really cute baby and children clothing store that is fairly new. They organize their clothes by clothing style with a California flair. Love the little boy clothes.



{via Ruby Pr}

Yellow Baskets

I want a couple of yellow wicker baskets like these for the bathroom. Anyone know where to get them?

Do Your Duty

I did! Hope you did too!

The Last of Autumn

The fall colors are winding down here in the East, so the last part of this weekend was spent enjoying what was left. We headed up north and spent the day hiking (or what you can do with two small children and a pregnant lady). We also saw a few covered bridges that dated back to the 1700's. I was hoping to find a farm that sold pure maple syrup but had no luck. The mini trip was fun and will probably be our last as a family of four. Less than three weeks away!

Halloween

The kiddies had so much fun on Halloween. They were little monsters all day--bouncing off the walls with great anticipation for trick o' treating. Stella was originally going to be a mermaid, but the costume was tight around her legs so she bagged the idea. She found her Snow White costume in her dress up box and was good to go. She requested glittery makeup all over her face and then put on two shiny stickers on her nose. Lucas wore his fireman costume, and let me add some ashes from our fireplace on his face. I stayed home to hand out treats. This year I decided to put candy in little bags so each child got the same number of candy pieces. I made up 60 bags--they were gone in about 20 minutes. So I made up another 20 bags--gone in less than 20 minutes. No candy left. So I turned off the porch light and blew out the pumpkin candles--kids were still ringing the door bell! We ignored the door for the next hour.