A Birthday for The Boss Lady.

I don't know if you heard, but somebody pretty special turned the big oh-one.

And mama kind of threw the baby birthday party
of her own dreams.

I finished making this doll, from a kit that I thrifted, at roughly the same
time that she was born. 3:41AM. Weird, right?

There were dozens and dozens of lollipops and pinwheels. 

A piñata that got pardoned on the grounds that I love it and bashing likenesses
 of animals makes me sad.

Vegan Cake from Bleeding Heart Bakery. I told them I wanted a vanilla
sprinkle cakeball the cake. I made the little flags that all the kids are doing 
these days, and the "1" penant was meant for Ola to wear, but ended up 
covering a spot where the cake got smooshed. 
Might wanna get some stronger boxes, Bleeding Heart.

Smash cake, also from Bleeding Heart, and cake topper candle holder 
from The Small Object

I also enlisted the help of our family. This lady made over 100 cake pops!

My sister and almost sister made these cookies based on this piñata cookie recipe.
They chose to use unicorn cookie cutters instead of donkeys and had to use some
 pretty clever baking technique involving a kleenex box in order to get the whole
 rainbow to fit inside one cookie. FYI, mini m&m's aren't so easy
 to find these days. You'll have to ask the internet.

Our awesome friends, Nicole and Wes, made a balloon press wall.

She was very cautious about the cake at first, and I don't think she liked the taste of
sugar, but eventually we ended up with this.

It was all worth it to hear a loud chorus of voices singing Happy Birthday to my
 baby while what seemed like a paparazzi-sized crew of people snapped photos. 

Back on the bag wagon.

After completing a custom-designed motorcycle bag on request (photos to come), I think I'm officially back in the bag-making groove.

I also just got a new diaper bag order, so I've updated my fabric choices on Etsy. Have at it.

family photographing

I've decided to try my hand (and photography degree) at a little family photography in my downtime. Took these of some dear friends last week. You'll have to click on them, because I can't figure out how to prevent this blog from turning them into compressed garbage.

You gotta put the baby in a basket.

And, of course, I had to sneak in a couple of 'Lil O.

"cushion" is a fancy name for "pillow"

I made these guys for our new sofa. It's an odd fabric choice, but I fell in love with the stuff at a recent moving sale. I still have a ton left, which will probably become a diaper bag and matching wallet.

The Resulting Dreamcatcher.

The dreamcatcher is finished. Looks like this:

I used some scrap colored leather and this tutorial for the feathers. Love them. They will make appearances in other projects, no doubt.

Some similar inspiration I've stumbled upon:

From Pretty Little Things.

raw emeralds.

The emerald is 'lil O's birthstone. In a perfect world, I would get this for Mother's Day. Alas...

From Grey Area.

We like what we like.

Old couch, meet new couch.

So, I found this on Etsy. I want it for Lil' O's room.

I cannot afford it. So, it's inspirational.

I already have all of the materials to make something similar.

Sorry, seller. Call it flattery?

If you can afford the real deal, find it here.

Lil' "O" has been out as long as she was in.

Sometimes

Sometimes you have to leave your baby on the floor watching Pawn Stars until she curls herself into a ball and falls asleep.

If you are the kind of person who likes to take a shower every now and then, sometimes you have to do that.

sorrys!

So, don't make promises to keep your blog updated the day before you return to work. Not. Gonna. Happen.

Grandma H. has found this for Ola's big Christmas present. Lucky girl, no?

Also, as a stylist, I need to comment: What is going on with that poor baby's toes?

From magiccabin.com.

(.)(.)

This isn't all about pregnancy. We're doing real-time too.

Let's talk fashion for a second.

Boob fashion. Fashionable nursingwear. It doesn't exist.

So this genius of a lady, Maryam, started a blog called Milk-Friendly. If nursing-friendly clothes are available at Free People, Forever 21, Anthropologie, ASOS she finds them. It's helped me immensely since I spent my first week postpartum desperately stretching or cutting off the necks of all of my t-shirts.

When I decided I could use some help finding a bridesmaid's dress for my girl, Katie's, wedding I asked Maryam if she had any ideas for me.

And (yay!!!) she put together a whole post.

Check it.

Thanks, Maryam! I think I'm going with the first one.

So I haven't posted in FOREVER.

I was busy making one of these:

Her name is Ola Mae and I found out she was on her way one year ago today.

We'd only been trying for two months, and I already knew that I was pregnant before I took the test. I could feel stuff going on in there. Weird cramps, pinches. Stuff that I had never experienced before.

I was standing in the most disgusting venue in all of Chicago, Ronny's, watching my friend's band, Blood Feathers, play and I felt it and I knew. Ola's first show. Over the next two weeks she attended her dad's show, Pavement, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, and on the day I found out I was pregnant she was on stage in my belly while I played with my band. I remember when we were loading our equipment on to the stage I asked my bandmate to lift my rig for me and he was all "Yeah, I kind of thought you shouldn't lift it." Because everybody thought I was pregs before I even was. Mama likes her beer and I hadn't had a drink since we started trying.

From the moment I looked at that stick with the two lines on it I was terrified. I wasn't scared of being a parent or pregnancy or even giving birth, just scared it would get erased somehow. So I didn't tell my family or most of my friends for fourteen weeks. I suck at keeping my own secrets. I really don't know how I did it.

I was too superstitious to document any of it then, so congratulations, Morningnoonannight, you're now a Mommy blog.

Garfield Park!

When my father came into town on an especially cold Chicago winter day, I thought it would be the perfect time to finally check out The Garfield Park Conservatory. I drive past it every day on my way to work, but have never managed to stop in. My friends who are parents can't get enough of the place, so I wanted to see if the childless could have fun there, too. We can!

We were lucky enough to be there on one of their Sweet Saturdays, which meant a treasure map of sweet stops where we learned about and sampled everything delicious that grows there. Cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon, coconut, and agave were my favorites.

There was free haagen-dazs ice cream, live music, crafts and activities for the wee ones, food vendors (including vegetarian!) and a packet of seeds prize at the end of the treasure hunt.

Unfortunately for you, the Sweet Saturdays are over for this year, but these events look like they could be even better:

Fleurotica

Green and Growing Fair

Beer Under Glass

You'll definitely be seeing me at Beer Under Glass.

The Pops in The Palm Room

(Slightly) older than The Pops, Century Agave. This thing is over a hundred years old and the size of a minivan.

The Palm Room

Shot in The Palm Room:

We named this one The Preying Mantis.

Look-alikes?

Mar Caribe

Reading Station

Where I've been.

Photo by John Sturdy

Photo by Nathaniel E. Bell

I've been out of touch for a while. Sorry about that.

I joined a new band, and it's pretty rad.

We're called Village:

Our MySpace with some tunage.

Our Facebook.

And, if you're in the Chicagoland area, come see us play.

Saturday 13 March at Bloodline Gallery (corner of Armitage and Humboldt) with Rabble Rabble and Other Minds

Friday 19 March at The Hideout with Soft Speaker and Cains & Abels

Wednesday 24 March at Schubas with Warm Ones and Honest Engines

I'll be back soon with some posts I've been working on. DIY wedding and a day at The Garfield Park Conservatory coming right up.