pinterest friday :: rug me up

I love area rugs. I love hardwood floors, so I guess area rugs would go hand in hand with hardwood floors. We only have one carpeted room in the house (thanks to Mom Hawk's Christmas present basement renovation!), so I'm just dying to find the perfect rug for every other space in the house. For this week's pinterest, I've found inspiration for each space in our house. I hope you enjoy them!

I turn 32 this weekend, Hawk's planned some sort of really fun day & night for us, and I'm dying my hair (I CANNOT WAIT) ombre. AHHHHHHHHH! It was Hawk's Christmas present to me, so I've saved it until the 3rd trimester (for baby safety) close enough to delivery that I won't be all gray-haired mom in the photos. Because that's what really matters. Gray hair. Not healthy babies, or anything like that. C'mon, people. Get with the times.*

Okay, confession time: I'm also a little scared about my birthday. Why? Because I think we may be leaving Ace overnight, and I've only been away from him for one night (a camp-out with teens for work) and he was with Hawk the whole time. You know how it is when you're (happily) married; your spouse is basically you, so if the baby is with him/her, it's like not really being away. I'm going to miss being near him SO much, but I think marriage is the basis for happy-family, and I do so like me some Hawk time. Blah blah blah. On to rugs. That sounds dirty. Egads.

For our "foyer" area. Ha, because I like to think we have a foyer.

Source: rugs-direct.com via V on Pinterest

For our soon-to-be gray bathroom

Source: interiorporn.tumblr.com via Rachel on Pinterest

And this one for the upstairs hallway:

Source: anthropologie.com via Liz on Pinterest

Or this:

Source: copycatchic.com via Michelle on Pinterest

For the powder room, if the rug could be small:

Source: lowes.com via Bonnie on Pinterest

For the living room:

Source: crateandbarrel.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

For the kitchen:

st

So there we have it. Have a lovely weekend, friends!

icj,
~j

*I am joking. You should know that. I would go all bag-lady gray right now if it guaranteed that we would be able to keep having children and that they would all be healthy, happy, and holy. 

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date night : preggo version

Hawk took a vacation week so last night, we hired our favorite babysitter (so favorite she's our only one), snatched some of the Christmas gifts Hawk received from his team members, and got a night out on the town.

We used the first of our City Tins. 

For those of you outside of the Milwaukee/Madison area, let me tell you about this brilliant concept. Printed onto what look like standard bar-fare coasters are $10 gift certificates good toward any $25 bill at the specified restaurant. The restaurants themselves are all on the trendy, young side in that their patrons are generally outgoing, educated 20- to 40-somethings. None of these are chains; all are local and unique! And the first coaster is this great spinner so if you can't decide where you want to eat, you can make the decision into a game.

We chose the place closest to us because Ace had a slightly rough day and we wanted to make the most of the time we had. We hit up Cafe Hollander and enjoyed the best service--after all, it was a Monday night.

Then, we used our iPic gift and went -- wait for it -- bowling. 

For those of you who knock the sport, may I remind you that it is the only physical activity at which most people are mediocre, so everybody can enjoy themselves instead of trying to be competitive. 

In our first year dating we used to hit up a local alley for their after 9pm, $1 bowling nights. We'd meet up with a collection of friends, grab a few pitchers, order a small pizza or two from the bar, and laugh our way through a fiver's worth of games. 

We bowled 4 games. I won 2 which is unheard of in our relationship---Hawk is good at everything but swimming and rollerskating. 

So if you're looking for a gift for a couple expecting a child, I highly recommend City Tins, a certificate to something physical or optional (since at iPic we could have seen a movie instead), and some cash for babysitting. 

What is your favorite relaxed date activity?

Happy Tuesday, friends!

icj,

~j

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Date Night & the latest Devote

image found here

I was supposed to work every single day and night this weekend, but due to the tendency of our participants to register late, my employment cancelled both events, leaving me with my first full weekend off in months. So Friday night, Hawk and I went on a date. I hadn't realized how long its been since I got all dolled up to go out with him alone (maybe my birthday?). I pulled out my deep burgundy velvet jacket and coated my eyes in grey shadow, just like the make-up artist at our MOPS group told me to do. He noticed right away. And we took off for Cafe Hollander, a brilliant danish restaurant we used to patronize regularly when we lived on the East Side, and the Social Network at a local theater.

cafe hollander downer ave

I was giddy. All night. Giddy like a school girl. Now, mind you, I am also 8 months pregnant, and people just love to ask me if I'm having twins. (Isn't that sweet of them?) So let's just say I'm huge out front. There I was, giddy and huge. Poor Hawk. We chatted about baby names, labor and delivery needs, godparents, funny stories, and split a frites cone with some spicy aioli sauce and a big soft pretzel, devoured our savory meals (mine was a Maple Chicken Vinaigrette Salad), and a few cokes. It was an almost 2-hour affair before we drove the 30 min to the theatre (really, it is local!), gorged ourselves on decaf diet Pepsi, buttered popcorn, and Junior Mints.

We spent the weekend preparing for the Little One and winterizing the house. Hawk cleaned gutters and windows while I secured the ladder base and read about labor relaxation techniques. We unpacked and washed the last of the baby's things. Went shopping for anything we needed for our hospital bags. I readied the first parts of the baby book, made a little baby artwork, and we picked a few artsy items from etsy.

Later, I spent some time on a new blog I found, todaysletters, in which this great couple writes each other a love letter every day. I love the idea--very simple and less mushy. So I suggested to Hawk that we do something similar every Sunday. He agreed.

Here is my letter from yesterday:

Dear Hawk,

Thank you for completing house projects with your shirt off. Added bonus: I now have curtains and a soothing-safely-shaking-baby-thing thanks to you. Please play mando every night. It's my favorite sound in the house.

Love,

cheeks

image found here

devote:

We've heard so much about how having a baby will take our attention away from each other. We are sure this is true, so we've made our devotion and desire for each other central in our nightly prayers, part of our weekly conversations, and the motivating principle behind every apology. I couldn't believe how good it was to go on a date! I confess, I thought "date nights" were overrated and unnecessary, but even the act of preparing myself physically for our date was a sacramental action. An offering out of deep love. We are hoping that our efforts before Ace arrives will pay off when Ace is here. We've decided:

• that Wednesday nights after Ace arrives, we're going to make dinner together
• that Sunday's we're going to write these little letters to each other
• that once weekly, we're taking a 20-minute walk together, just because
• that we already know some of our temptations and tendencies that would lead us to put each other second in our family, rather than first
• that we can do something good with this knowledge
• that Hawk will pray for and practice patience, and I will pray for and practice being slow to anger

Thank you for taking a little time with today's devote. Hope this finds you well, today!

Happy Monday.

icj,

~j

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All Hallow's Eve

I'm not entirely sure where that apostrophe belongs. Nonetheless, it is now* two days after All Hallow's Eve (*a.k.a. All Saints Day, which sounds a tad more encouraging). I married a magnificent man, and I expected that in doing so, I would learn a great deal more about him.


I did not realize that he would be so excited about Halloween and trick-or-treaters. He spoke about it for days, at random intervals. So when we completed our first Great Date, and we went to the Dollar Delight 

to spend $2 a piece on a meaningful gift for each other, we had to get two more gifts becuase the ole DD won't take a credit card for purchases under $5. So we found these spirited items:

Pretty scary, eh? So that was Friday night, and when I came downstairs after preparing my costume, I found this:

I used a fun bridesmaid dress and some aluminum foil to squeak out a princess outfit:

So I've discovered something new: owning a home means entertaining Trick-or-Treaters in style.

Hope you had a lovely weekend! Check back tomorrow for an update on the housewarming!

icj,

~j

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