My Love Affair with Target

Many of you probably love Target as much as I do.  However, since I had summer vacation and then pretty much went straight into maternity leave, I've had a lot of time on my hands.  As my pregnancy progressed, it was harder and harder for me to take walks around the neighborhood for fear that I needed to use the restroom or a place to sit and rest so I now take walks in stores - namely Target. It means that I make more trips to Target than I care to admit. Really, Target never gets boring for me.

I love when they release new items such as the Shops, Nate Berkus and even the newly designed Target line, Threshold. I'm looking forward to seeing the new Neiman Marcus collab that is coming soon. I love coasting through the aisles and end caps looking for bright red stickers calling my name with 30, 50, 70 and the even rarer 90% off.  The icing on top are the Target stores with Starbucks (another love affair, but that will have to wait till next time) where I can do all my leisurely shopping while I drink an iced caramel macchiato (currently decaf).

This weekend, I went into Target to see the Nate Berkus collection and to pick up my hammered bowl and came across a new set of goodies to fall in love with. Here's what I'm currently eyeing...

So if you come over to visit in the next month or so, you might see some of these items in their new home. :) Like this guy --

Happy Wednesday! Who knows... it's very likely that I'll run into you at Target this week. :)

Little Surprises

Don't you love little surprises? Today, we got a couple of surprises when my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and nephew came to visit.

Auntie Plum bought these wonderfully soft bamboo Aden + Anais swaddling blankets for us. I was just eyeing these at Nordstrom a few weeks ago and decided I couldn't splurge on another set of blankets. They match our room perfectly too!

Auntie Cherry, Tay Tay and Kylie sent us some world famous Byrd family art canvases. 

They're absolutely perfect and painted with so much love.  Also a perfect match!

Chris and Baby Jack at lunch. Jack was 0.5 of the 1.5 Italian people sitting at our table at Pizzeria Mozza. Have you eaten there? If not, you need to. And you need to get the Mozza Caprese. Our friend Grand introduced us and now I'm hooked. Oh and the Butterscotch Budino...and the Caramel Copetta. Okay, I'm starting to lose focus here.

And just 'cause...I'm a sucker for cute stationery. This one is going in the mail today for all the wonderful little surprises we got!

Happy Weekend! Looking forward to some more rain tomorrow!

Rain & Other Thursday-like Tidbits

I was looking forward to Thursday all week because the forecast said it would rain.

I love rain.

Let me repeat that one more time.

I LOVE RAIN.

Wait, I lied.

Let me restate this truthfully.

I love rain EXCEPT when it's a school day.

Parents or parents-to-be, in case you weren't aware of this, when your elementary age children go to school on a rainy day, they act as if they have NEVER SEEN RAIN BEFORE IN THEIR LIVES.  It's as if water falling from the sky were a completely novel phenomenon, miraculous and earth-shattering. It's like the first earthquake I experienced when I was in elementary school. I remember thinking aliens had invaded the Earth (Chris says I have a very vivid imagination). I digress.

Every time it rains, I have to make a big deal about it. I say, "Oh my goodness boys and girls! I had no idea!  I had no clue! I was completely unaware that....none of you have ever seen rain before!" When they begin protesting that yes, they've seen rain plenty of times in their lives and no, it's not completely new to them.  That's when I jump in and say, "Oh, then why are you guys acting like this is the first time it's ever rained in your entire lives?!"  We all get a laugh and then they calm down....well, most of them do.

So, although it is a school day, I am not working right now so I LOVE RAIN.

You can imagine my disappointment when this is all I saw, all day long!

Darn you Orange County and your perfectly mild weather!

Okay, okay, I admit it was a very nice day, even without the rain, but I LOVE RAIN.  We'll just have to try again another day.

So now it's time for other Thursday-like tidbits! Remember when I said Nate Berkus was coming to Target? Well, lo and behold. I was making my nearly daily trip to Target (I know. Really, I think it's an illness) and found a small end cap of Nate Berkus items in store...EARLY! Not to mention the Patch items were on clearance. It was a good, good day. 

After this, I went to the post office to mail off a little package of goodies to one of my October brides.

When the postal worker saw that the sender was "When Love Happens," he said, "When are you going to send one of these to me?" Perplexed, I smiled as he continued and said, "When will love happen for me?" I laughed out loud...maybe a little too loud.  Sorry mister, my packages aren't THAT magical. 

Anyway, happy Thursday! Chris and I have a full weekend. He gets a day off tomorrow to make up for all the traveling he did in September (I saw him for HALF the month). We start our video lamaze (thanks Jackie!), one last piece to complete in the nursery, breastfeeding class and we're watching our two little nephews. We're all baby, all weekend!  Hope you have a happy one!

Nerdy Nursery Prints

I'm a little (okay,  a lot) late in posting, but I've been super preoccupied with getting the nursery finished and tending to things that need to be done before the baby arrives.  Okay, and reading.  I read The Mark of Athena in two nights. 

I've been working on the nursery pretty much as soon as we found out we were pregnant. That's just the kind of person I am. I like to get a head start on things. I began looking online for ideas, getting ideas and making Pinterest boards.  But for the past, oh, I'd say... 4 months? I've been looking for artwork to hang up in the nursery.  One day, I came across these and almost made me change the entire direction of our nursery because it was major cuteness. Check out these adorable prints from Mint Parcel.

Just in time for Halloween! These scary guys aren't so scary when they're cute!

I just wish she had a Darth and Luke to add to this collection, but I'm in the process of buying these guys anyway. I would make my brother proud.

Little superheroes!  My favorite here are Batman and Robin. Okay, and the hulk 

because he looks like broccoli!

Chris gets a long weekend so it'll be time to finish putting up shelves and frames in the nursery so we can share it with you here! Happy Thursday!

And special happy vacation shout out to Charissa who is on her way to Japan! Enjoy and eat lots! 

Long Awaited Day...

You think I'm talking about the baby, but I'm not! :)

Chris had already been living in our current home for a couple of years when I moved in after we were married in 2010.  The house was already furnished when I stepped foot into the house and in an effort to save money after the wedding, we only made some minor changes to furniture and decor.  I have a pile of framed photos to hang, which I haven't done. Shelves sitting in the closet, that have not been hung.  Somewhere along the way, I got so busy with my long commute to work and my Etsy shop, that  I abandoned all my little projects.  We do hope to move within the next handful of years to make room for more kids, but for now, I am content with making small adjustments here and there to make our place more homey.

Enter Nate Berkus, Oprah's interior designer!  His collection hits Target October 21st and the date has been sitting on my Google calendar for months.

Come October 21st, I will be at the Target store right when it opens to collect my sea urchin and hammered bowls.