January 19, 2018

Hi.....Lazy Blogger is Back

























Hi there!  Happy belated new year wishes. The holidays went by like a blur this year, and I feel like most of that was due to me working another year of retail. Too tired to do very many special things like menu plan for Christmas dinner and decor for my table, as evidenced by the above pictures. All of us this year were so focused on opening that red envelop to see the gender of Caitlin and Cyrous' baby!  It was the most beautiful gift of the day and if you follow on Instagram, you saw their happy faces revealed on the video I put up( It's a GIRL, just incase you didn't see it). So I'm sure you might guess I'm busy planning all the cute clothing I'm going to make, and also planning Caitlin's baby shower. I'll tell you though.....that was a long week to wait and see what the gender was!! I went to the ultrasound with the happy parents, and the technician would tell us to look away when she was nearing the private area.  The technician slipped though when she scanned near the face and said "Oh Angelina Jolie lips." When we left the office we both realized that you wouldn't equate a female face to a male, so we both thought "girl" by that slip. The technician even tried to back peddle and say...."Which doesn't mean it's a girl..." We are all thrilled to welcome a sweet baby girl. Her name will be Ruby Valentina :)

I worked on Christmas eve until 4pm and had high hopes to cook dinner when I got home, and even menu planned for it, but leading into that day, I was already tired. We decided to go to our favorite Paella restaurant in Oakland called "Duende." It was tasty as usual and lifted a bit of the load off of me. Christmas morning Dave made his infamous buttermilk pancakes and we tore into our gifts after that. I managed to capture a few nice pictures of the soon to be new parents. Caitlin truly was glowing that day.

So now we are in January and I'm feeling guilty that I let my poor blog gather dust over the holidays and didn't document our celebrations in real time. I'm sure the last thing anyone wants to see is Christmas pictures in January, but as you know I only do this blog as a history of our family events mostly, so you will have to bare with me on my laziness.
I don't do resolutions, so you aren't going to hear me go on an on about what I plan to change or monumental things I'm going to accomplish, hahah. I instead, like to just live each day to my maximum and try and accomplish maybe a tenth of all the millions of things I want to do!
The one thing I am working on though, is how I want to go forward with my Etsy shop. I'm thinking on streamlining the styles I put in. I feel like the vintage styled pieced that I have in my shop aren't speaking to that many customers and are very time consuming to make.  I might be taking some of those out of the shop and giving them to Caitlin. She has had her eye on a few of the pieces that I have, and I would rather see Ruby wear them truth be told. So that being said, I think I'm going to concentrate on simple styles with special touches of embroidery and continue to work with all my lovely natural fibers. I'll save the fun vintage sewing for my granddaughter! I love saying that.
Although I feel like it's going to be me having too much fun sewing for Ruby and not Etsy as the months go by hahah.  Perhaps my blog will pick up more when Ruby comes, as I'm sure I will not be able to resist photographing her.
Again, if you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw me finally dust off my serger! I have had this machine for a about 8 years. I have never even powered it on. I forced myself to play with it a couple of weekends ago and actually got rid of my fear of using it. I feel though, that I will still not use it as much as my Bernina. I only want to use the serger where it makes sense to finish seams with it. I still prefer more of a couture  way of finishing. I'm going to play with it again on a sample knit piece I'll be doing today. Wish me luck!

I hope that everyone is having a good start to the new year, and may you have good health and happiness in 2018!

7 comments:

  1. Hello Elizabeth! I so enjoy seeing your photos, both of family and home. Lady, you have great style and create such a beutiful life. Caitlin is stunning, and looks so much like you; just wait until you are a grandma, the joy is undescribable, and though I only know Caitlin through your blog, Ruby Valentina seems to suit her little girl...I love it. (I almost named Megan Valentina, but it didn't seem right. To this day, she is a Megan) Did you embroider the bear/bunny/fox towel? If so would you share where you got the pattern; its so cute! Welcome back to bloging!

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    1. Hi Tricia, thanks :) I cannot wait to meet my granddaughter. Caitlin is letting me photograph the birth, and I'm really excited to be able to do it. I did it for my sister's two daughters and it was quite something. I love the name they chose, I really think it will be a cute fit. I didn't embroider the tea towel that is pictured. I got it last year when our Anthropologie decided to carry "Coral and Tusk" line. I also bought that feather runner that I used ,not last Thanksgiving but 2016. It's a pricey line, but with 40 percent off it was doable hahaha. Google "Coral and Tusk."

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  2. I enjoyed seeing your Christmas photos! the holidays really did fly by this past year. Caitlin looks beautiful and really is glowing. She is your twin, as I've said before! I'm so excited for you guys and the upcoming arrival of baby Ruby - her name is beautiful and precious! You've said she is due in early May - maybe we will share a birthday, mine is May 3rd. Early May birthdays are the best! Happy New Year to you!

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    1. Hi Julia! Thanks for the lovely compliments :) Caitlin's due date was May 7th, but after the ultrasound, they changed it to May 4th, so possibly could fall on your birthday!!

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  3. Oh, and you will have to hop over to my blog when you get a chance. I finally updated it after almost TWO years!

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