1 month of love

Phew, I am so behind on posting its not even funny. I am just now getting around to posting little Chickie's (my nickname for my little lady) first month photos even though yesterday she turned two months old! I shot these gems in our living room while she was in between feeds, and I was lucky enough to get a few shots in before she spit up all over the pillow...gotta love newborns. Life with a little one has been one fun and very tiring ride. But I wouldn't change it for the world, my Chickie is just way too cute. She is getting bigger by the day and is pounds of fun, in these photos she was around 5lbs 8 ounces. She's was super tiny but since has grown to be a little chunky. I just love her so much and now that she is sleeping a little more regularly things are all starting to fall into place. I'll be posting her 2 month photos as soon as I can get a little more time on the computer, seems every time I touch it the baby wakes up and needs something. Just like when dinner is served...I swear its like she smells the food and wakes up just as I am about to take my first bite!

photos by our designed life

I've been gone but have a great reason!

Boy its been a while since a logged in to blog land. And for good reason, I had my baby!! Baby A came much earlier then we had expected at just 34 weeks old and after 20 hours of medication free labor and an emergency C-section I had my little girl. Born January 9th at 11:20 and weighing in at only 4 pounds 7 ounces. She is doing much better, being so early has lead to her spending her first bit of life in the NICU, a place I had never imagined I would be. It was tough to see my little one with tubes and IV lines but thankfully she is quite the show off and has done nothing but reach her growth goals. We are so thankful to all the amazing nurses giving her round the clock care and making her nice and strong to come home. She has finally passed her birth weight and is cooing like crazy...we even got to give her a bath last night. Lets just say her lungs had no problem developing! The husband and I cannot wait to have our little girl home with us very soon...hopefully within this next week if everything goes to plan.
We just had the baby shower over the weekend (we were all joking in the hospital that I would have to Skype in to my own party) and I am now stocked up on tons of baby goodies including  my old bassinet. My Mom kept it in amazing shape over the years and its surprisingly way more sturdy then the ones found in stores now. I love the lace details and can't wait to see the little one hanging out in my old digs. Below are just a few shots we took of her growing in the hospital; turns out we are already those parents that have way too many pictures of their baby...and she is only 13 days old!

photos by our designed life

Hanging in there

Its officially been 15 days of being on bedrest and boy is this difficult. I've never been one to just sit around all day and do nothing {funny how when we are super busy we dream of being lazy!} so having to physically lay down and try to keep as calm as possible is becoming torturous. My poor husband, he thankfully had this entire time off from work or worked from home during the holiday week but today went back in to the office. Thankfully my Mom is stopping by for much needed tlc around the house...sometimes you just need your Mom. And though I have ample amounts of time for simple things like knitting, blogging and tv watching, I've noticed a major decline in the desire to be any kind of productive. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to take it easy for my little girl to finish growing but its really quite difficult. Anyone else out there go through bedrest before? I can't wait to meet our little one, in fact, with the thought of her coming any day now we rushed to get a car seat just in case and the husband already installed it into the car. But until then its just Uli and I chillin in bed watching hours of tv.

image by our designed life on instagram

Its been a long week

I've been missing lately and am just now finally feeling up to having a computer in front of me. Thank goodness for my iPhone or I would have been completely out of the loop for over a week! Last week I was admitted to the hospital, seems the pain I was having wasn't as normal as I had originally thought and had to be monitored, poked and prodded for 3 days. Talk about stressful. But the good news is that baby was always doing just fine, it was me that was having a few issues. Now we just have to focus on having her stay put, at only 8 months she's still a wee bit too little to be making her big appearance. Since last Wednesday I have been on official bed rest, I even have to limit the amount of crafting thanks to a doctor that thinks its just more work. So I've been laying in bed with the dog watching hour upon hour of Netflix and Hulu...anyone have any recommendations I could check out???
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, I was thankfully able to be released from the hospital Monday afternoon a mere hours before my family's big Christmas dinner. And even though I had to sit on the couch all night and have everything brought to me it was so nice to be able to spend time with my family and get my mind off of hospitals and test results.
Now I'm off for another round of laying around and doing a whole lot of nothing, my poor husband has had to work major overtime around here getting me meals, walking the dog and doing countless chores all while keeping up with his regular work schedule. What a guy.

image by our designed life on instagram 

Instagram love

Its been a bit of a rough week for me, since last Monday I have been dealing with a baby that seems to like to take up space in my rib cage and it has had me in some pretty serious pain. I can't seem to get a full nights sleep but somehow fall asleep on the couch during the day no problem at all. Hopefully things get a little better soon because it sure is getting hard to stay somewhat comfortable and even breathing is getting tricky! How do you Mom's do it out there!?

Now that I am snapping away on my new phone I figured I would start sharing some of my favorite Instagram photos from the previous week with you guys here on the blog. This week I got crafty, all dolled up and did a bit of knitting in an unusual place.

My Mom stopped by to work on the invitations for the little one's baby shower and I could not have been happier with the outcome. We may have gone a little overboard with the DIY but its the first baby so we sort of had to go all out. Using a bit of raised polka dot cardstock, vellum, lace and ribbon we created one super sweet invitation don't you think? That same night as the crafting session {and the only day I was able to stay upright and pain free} was the husband's holiday work party. I must say, I felt super fancy in my new dress and was shocked I could still fit into "regular" clothes...those maternity outfits sure can be a little on the unpleasant looking side. The husband snapped that shot of me at 29 1/2 weeks. And the last photo was taken last night at Analog Tattoo. The husband was getting some work done on his kale tattoo and I broke out my baby blanket for a little productivity. I was a total hipster cliche- knitting in a tattoo shop.

images by our designed life on instagram 

Happy Thanksgiving

While most folks here in the US are celebrating Thanksgiving by feasting on way too much food its still important to remember why we are thankful in the first place. This last year has been a whirlwind of excitement and merriment with our upcoming bundle of joy growing daily, I didn't even mind waking up at 4:30 this morning thanks to her getting the hiccups. I am so thankful for being able to expand my family and look forward to meeting her in a few short months.

I am thankful for this guy right here, my loving husband. He is my rock, my best friend and my biggest supporter. I swear I don't think I can really do wrong in his eyes and I will forever love him for it. He always keeps me laughing, in fact, I shot this picture because he kept saying take a picture of me. I did and he simply said, there, now I was here! And because of the memory, this is one of my favorite pictures of him, just because he was there.

I am thankful we are able to live in our dream city. Ever since I can remember I always wanted to live in San Francisco and for the last year and a half the husband and I have made that dream come true. Its been a time of some serious ups and a few downs but we managed to stay strong and thrive in our little {big} city. This is the view of my neighborhood and golden gate park- our place is somewhere tucked into those buildings. We can't wait to be able to bring a little one into our busy world.

And of course I can't forget my little Uli, our first "baby". She has been with us for almost 3 years now and I am thankful for such an awesome dog. We saved her from the shelter in L.A and haven't looked back since; spoiling her rotten. As you can see. She is the most patient and loving dog...she even says goodbye and snuggles people on command. She's pretty special.

images by our designed life

I am also very thankful for having such a supporting family and loving friends that have been nothing but supportive throughout the years. So please, before you sit down to gorge yourself silly or perhaps join the masses in black Friday shopping, remember why you are thankful.

Celebrating my Mom

Today is my Mom's birthday and I wanted to give her a little shout out as she has always been an avid reader of Our designed life. Last week my Dad and brother were able to surprise her with a visit {my brother lives in Utah and she hasn't seen him in many moons} and a few days of family time together. We shopped for birthday's and baby and sat around the dinner table laughing and enjoying each others company.  She has always been my biggest fan and with her grandbaby on the way she has been filled with even more love and excitement; the baby even has her own nursery in my old bedroom at my parents house! So please, join me in wishing my Mom a lovely birthday filled with many many more to come, because she is simply awesome.

image by oh hello friend

Snacking on my favorite fruit

Do you ever bite into a food and have instant memories? Yesterday my Mom came over to do a bit of crafting for the baby and she surprised me with about 2 dozen of these tasty morsels. It had never occurred to me that not everyone is familiar with guavas...the husband had only had it in a sugary juice form and we dug in to these for dessert and breakfast this morning. When I was a wee one my Grandpa had a tree in his back yard and every fall he would bring in handfuls for me to devour, in fact I have a very vivid memory of me sitting at my grandparents dining table swinging my dangling legs and just munching on these fragrant fruits covered in sugary goodness. One bite last night and it was like I was right back in their kitchen. There really is nothing like fresh homegrown fruit, and thankfully my grandparents house is still in the family so we get to enjoy their fresh guavas, avocados and cactus. A few years before my grandfather passed away he actually brought a small guava stick from his tree to grow in my parents yard and this year was the very first time we actually got fruit from it...they were delicious but not quite the same. So to have these what I lovingly referred to all night as OG's {original guavas} to snack on sure made me smile. And turns out baby loves them just as much, she was kicking away to all the sugar.

images by our designed life

Baby belly love

Over the weekend I broke out the camera to shoot a lovely engagement session and at the end of the day the husband turned the camera on me. I keep forgetting to snap pictures of the growing belly so I was super excited to see these results! I'm now just past 25 weeks along and growing larger by the minute it seems. Every once and a while I forget what I look like and when I walk past a window or mirror and see my reflection it can be a bit startling...but I wouldn't have it any other way. Baby is still kicking right along each and every day, February simply can't come fast enough.

images by our designed life

Really? REALLY?

I usually try to keep things all sunshine and lollipops around here because there is enough headache throughout our days but today is just not that day. I was woken up this morning at 4:45 to a waterfall of water coming from my bathroom ceiling which lead to my hallway dripping and then moved over to my closet. And now I have a wet carpet. All thanks to someone leaving a vacant unit above that was being renovated unlocked. Seems someone thought it would be fun {or funny} to turn on the water even though there is no sink and now we have a drippy mess. But I think the worst part of it all....its not the first time I've had an apartment flood. Oh how I wish I could just get a do over to my morning.
**Update: Turns out the workers didn't cap off the sink pipe when they ripped it out and I am getting an entire new bathroom. Major work! Talk about an oops on the contractors side, now he needs to pay for new floors, a ceiling, tile, and 4 walls. Yikes. Plus a hotel for us for a week. On the bright side its only supposed to take a week or so unlike my last flood that put me out for an entire month.

image by our designed life

Citrus cravings

I'm now 4 months into growing a baby belly and of all things I am happiest about {not including the actual baby of course} is the fact that I can now have citrus again. Thanks to Gerd, I had to give up all things citrus-y years ago- goodbye lemons, oranges, grapefruit and even tomatoes. But thanks to a growing baby bump it seems I can now handle it all again! Hooray. I must say, I was a bit concerned as to how my stomach issue would handle a little one but turns out that is all baby wants. I think in the last few weeks I've been able to eat oranges, tangerines and clementines daily which is fantastic since it works as a great way to absorb iron from all my green veggies. Yay for pregnancy! Any Mom's out there have weird cravings while you were preggo? For me I can't seem to get enough fruit in my body.

image by our designed life

Shapes, colors and nursery talk

Ever since announcing our upcoming bundle of joy the questions have certainly been flowing from friends and family. Are we finding out the sex? Are we moving to a bigger place? A fully vegan pregnancy, where do you get your protein? What will the nursery look like? Well, the answers are yes, we want to find out if it will be a miss or mister, we will be staying in our 1 bedroom apartment in San Francisco, I get protein from...well...food, and the baby space will be all kinds of geometric. We do have a rather large 1 bedroom, at least for S.F standards and are in the process of designing a special corner just for the little one. And yes, I am fully aware that we are putting baby in a corner, hehe.
When figuring out how we wanted the look to be, the husband and I agreed on a more subdued color palette and lots of shapes mixed with realistic animal prints and photos. And when I came across artist Serena Mitnik Miller over on Refinery 29 my eyes did a little happy dance. I have already planned a geometric fabric panel {similar to the initials we used in our announcement} to cover our stationary closet door but these beautiful water colors from Serena sure do speak to me. There is just something about the lines of color that are both soothing and interesting, I sure hope our little one likes it just as much as I do. As a child I spent many hours coloring in very similar shapes and after seeing these beauties I am more inspired then ever to get back to painting.

images via serena mitnik miller, bottom image found on refinery 29

Guys, we have news!

Hi friends I have a bit of exciting news to finally share....my husband Evan and I are expecting! Now that I am out of my first trimester and finally feeling a bit more up and at em, we both wanted to share our big news with everyone. And what better way then with a little photo shoot throughout our city. Our little bundle of joy is expected right around Valentines day 2013 and we really cannot wait to meet our little lady or mister. I've been doing great so far, a few weeks had me doing nothing but laying around trying to keep food down...and that my friends is why the blog has been a little quiet lately. But as you can see it was all for a wonderful reason. So far both I and baby are doing very well and have been dining on a completely vegan diet, so stay tuned for more updates, cravings and a growing bump. It was so hard to keep this news from all our friends and family members, hopefully now you guys all understand why the husband and I have been a little m.i.a lately.

Of course we couldn't forget about our little Uli, we are trying to get her used to the idea of a baby...she heard a newborn crying on tv and freaked out. Poor thing hasn't left my side since I got pregnant, she freaks out when I leave and insists on sleeping up against me most nights. I think she knows.

images by jared elizares

Really Uli?

Walked around the corner to find miss Uli having her way with one of our throw pillows in the afternoon sun. Totally not cool. But still cute. I've come to the realization that when you are a pet lover your things will get covered in hair and will always need to be tossed in the wash. Still worth it though, she's pretty awesome.

image by our designed life

10

Today the husband and I have officially been together for a decade. We became adults together and still live everyday like we are still teenagers hiking through parks and gardens, strolling along the beach and playing with our adorable pooch Uli. Its amazing how time really does fly when you've got your best buddy by your side. {and yes, that is us before prom hence the snazzy white tux and glammy updo}

images by our designed life

Welcome to my home

Its been a while since I invited you in and figured now that we have been here for very close to one year, I'd better get on in. Besides, its been this way for a while now so who knows when its going to change...my bet is sometime soon. As you can tell, I have a huge love for flowers and the color purple, its always been one of my favorite colors and I'm finding that its turning up in different hues all over the house. It may seem a bit strange, but one of my favorite items we have is this vintage record/8 track/radio/fireplace thing we got from a family friend. The husband wired it up so we can also run the computer and dvd sound through it, such a fun entertainment center! I've been meaning to change its exterior just haven't found the right solution yet...any ideas?

photos by our designed life

Vegas or bust

Last week the husband and I decided to take a quick and very impromptu trip to Las Vegas. Within an hour of having the idea, we had booked a stay at The Artisan for a few nights and made arrangements for the parents to dog sit. A few stops and 8 hours later we were in Vegas ready to party, on a Wednesday. I must say, Vegas during the week is quite nice {and cheap}, its rather quiet and its clearly 'the regular's" time to shine. We aren't the biggest gamblers so we set off to enjoy Vegas at a little slower of a pace. And aside from getting stuck in the Circus Circus garage elevator we didn't have any hiccups. Thank goodness it was a glass elevator and we were stuck a few inches from the ground otherwise I may have lost it. Though waving to people as they walked by did pass the time.

 Of course we had to go to the Fremont Street Experience, its a total tourist stop but with all the lights and giant drinks how could you say no?

 I think our favorite stop was at the Pinball hall of fame museum. Yep, they have one, and its awesome. It was by far the best bang for your buck in Vegas, $10 lasted us almost an hour verses losing at one hand in 5 seconds. If you are ever planning a trip out there, I would highly recommend stopping by, the vintage machines are so cool in person, they even had a double player pinball machine that tilted.

And for those that like a tasty adult beverage, you have got to find a way to try this drink. It blew me away, I'm not a big fan of most alcohol and this was like drinking a flower. I may just have to track down all the ingredients myself for our bar, it was that good.

photos by our designed life

Thrifted

One of my favorite past times is to go thrifting and vintage shopping with the husband. He loves it and totally gets into it making it just that much funner and last week we found a few fun new pieces. We had a few hours to kill and stopped in on a few thrift stores and vintage shops in Sunnyvale and San Jose CA. At one of the stops he spotted this ugly duckling print high up on a shelf, {I would have totally missed it} and we knew we just had to have it. Its so adorably charming on old wooden slats, now we just need to find the perfect spot for it.

We stopped in at Black and Brown in San Jose with 7 minutes till closing and I managed to find this awesome beaded purse while the husband found a pair of sunglasses. We also picked up another record for our now giant vinyl collection and I got that colorful sweater down there. Its still undetermined if its a yay or nay, it was one of those purchases that you think is a good one but you're just not sure if it will actually look like what you are thinking. What do you think? Its a bit big on me so I was thinking skinny jeans and boots but who knows. For $3 it was worth the gamble.

photos by our designed life

Friends

Sometimes all you need is your best friend and your dog. 

photo for our designed life

Hi guys

As a bit of a new year resolution I'm trying to keep more flowers around to make things just a little bit nicer and from the looks of it, its time for a few new bouquets. Though I do rather like the curled and browned edges. Have you decided to try anything new this year? I've done pretty good at keeping up with my good ol' standby goal to shed a few extra pounds and have somehow managed to get 10-15 miles of walking in every week! Thankfully I'm 22 pounds down and drowning in my jeans, yay! I've got big plans for this year but first, I'm stopping to smell the roses. How about you?

photo for our designed life