Category Archives: A Motherly Moment

08.31.13

the best day.

Today is certainly not the best day. Eight years ago today I lost my mother to a very long battle with cancer. I miss her every day and think of her when I look at my girls and how much she would eat them up. I was devastated when she died just two weeks shy of E’s birth. But she lives on in them and most importantly she lives on in me. I am a better mother for having known her and (although it sounds weird) for having lost her. I have a legacy of greatness to live up to. I love this quote shared with me by a friend who also lost her mother. It’s by author Cheryl Strayed (aka: Sugar.)

The kindest and most meaningful thing anyone ever says to me is: your mother would be proud of you. Finding a way in my grief to become the woman who my mother raised me to be is the most important way I have honored my mother. It has been the greatest salve to my sorrow. The strange and painful truth is that I’m a better person because I lost my mom young. When you say you experience my writing as sacred, what you are touching is the divine place within me that is my mother. Sugar is the temple I built in my obliterated place. I’d give it all back in a snap, but the fact is, my grief taught me things. It showed me shades and hues I couldn’t have otherwise seen. It required me to suffer. It compelled me to reach.

Since I am a teenage girl at heart, I have a playlist dedicated to my mom. This song is the very first track. It makes me smile, it makes me cry, it makes me know how lucky I am to have had her as my mom.

08.29.13

we all scream.

Summer is winding down. We actually have our end of summer neighborhood ice cream social tomorrow night. In my dream of being a perfect mother, I would be making these. Reality?… I will race home from the office 30 minutes late schlepping a melted carton of ice cream and whatever toppings are in our pantry. The good news is that I am starting to realize that it doesn’t matter. I need to CTFD.

08.08.13

a little reminder for us all.

Disconnect.

07.12.13

fashion friday: how to style a bump.

Recently I received an email from a reader who just found out she was expecting. She wanted some tips on how to look stylish without breaking the bank. It’s been over 5 years since I had to style a bump and it was no easy task considering 1.) My girls were 9 lbs. 5 oz. and 9 lbs 14 oz both a week early 2.) I am not exactly petite to begin with.

I ~~hate~~ despise those tiny bitches who say “I never even had to buy maternity clothes. I just used a Bella Band.” Ugh. I was literally BUSTING out of my maternity clothes by the end of both pregnancies. When Anna was born the nurse said to me “I am so sorry, we don’t have any clothes that will fit her on the L & D floor. We have to go upstairs to the Pediatric Department to find her something bigger.” We don’t grow them small around here, that’s for sure.

Here are some of my favorite tricks. I can tell you that I made the rookie mistake of buying a lot of designer clothes with my first pregnancy. I learned my lesson on the second. Old Navy, Gap and Target will do just fine. H & M has a great Maternity line too. You can also use a ton of existing cardigans, scarves and jean jackets to zhush up your outfits. Accessories are key here, ladies.

06.05.13

Ryann Colleen Mini-Shoot.

I am so grateful for the talented Ryann Laden of Ryann Colleen Photography. During the Louax, she snapped a few family pictures, which I will cherish forever! Thank you, Ryann!

05.21.13

Round Here.

My blog header is ack’ing all cray cray. Anyone know how to fix this?

Anywho… Here’s some snippets of life round here…

Our little Matisse had her artwork featured at Dulles Town Center. We were so proud! Now we are having conversations about healthier food choices.

In an effort to expose these clowns to some culture we saw a tribute to Stephen Schwartz, which was pretty awesome, because he came to the stage and spoke of some of his experiences writing songs for Wicked. (E is obsessed after our trip to Broadway.)

Speaking of clowns…

I can’t stand it, this literally makes my eyes hurt.

I was hoping to have an update for you all on the back porch, but we are at a stand-still. You see, removing the gutters, etc. we realized how warped our siding was…

So we are awaiting the next HOA meeting to get approval to replace it with something MUCH nicer.

We did have our fireplace installed. That ginormous piece of wood sitting on top is the reclaimed barn beam that I found for our mantle. It’s going to be ridic.

And the rough-in for lighting.

However, it’s been so long since we’ve had any movement, this Momma Bird started making other plans for our porch.

Squatter.

These two will make sure that Momma and babies find a safe new home when it’s time to finally finish this project.

05.14.13

Spread Thin.

I am one of the worst offenders of spreading myself too thin, but last weekend took it to a whole new level. My family has a beach condo in Bethany Beach. Without a doubt, it’s my favorite place on Earth. I used to spend my Summers there with my mom when I was a teenager. My dad would come up on weekends and go back to DC for the work week. I know- I am totally spoiled. I get it. My parents renovated the condo back in 1990 and not much has been done since. After Mom died, my Dad started renting it out, and on top of the pink and seafoam green decor, the place got uber gross, fast. So, we were tasked to renovate the place, but because it is still being rented, we had to stay on a budget.

So, my sister Karen and I have been designing and buying for months only to spend last weekend scrubbing, purging, moving and painting to get this place ready for the rental season. We only had two days, so naturally, we worked through the nights….

.. and rainy days. (I found this old rain coat of my dad’s in the closet, reminiscent of Long John Silver.)

There were many trips to the dump….

as well as two soggy truckloads to a donation center.

Lots of cans of spray paint were used.

To help pull everything together. This picture will give you an idea of what we were working with before. (I swear, these pictures were only taken a few years ago.)

I love my father dearly, but an interior designer he is not. He is also SUPER.. how shall we say???…. Frugal. Dad tried to update the kitchen on his own three years ago…. I can’t convey my level of distaste for the poop colored paint job and this granite combo. (Unfortunately, we are stuck with the granite, but I think we were able to work around it.)

Styling began.

And we designated placement for lighting, which by the way, we got all of our sconces from Home Depot.

But there is still a lot of work to be done, so we will be heading back in a week and a half to finish what we started. CRUNCH TIME. The first renter comes on June 1.

And by 7:30 am Sunday, we were on the road headed home to see our babies for Mother’s Day. This mommy spent her Mother’s Day in bed with the pipsqueaks. In two weeks we will lather, rinse, repeat. I can’t wait to finally enjoy it. I’ll be sure to share some photos of the finished product as well as some really inexpensive decorating ideas!