Fall Fashion Week - Sunday!

Woo hoo! You ladies are looking fan-freakin-tastic in your Fall outfits!!!

I wanted to leave book-length comments on all your pretty looks! hahaha.

Here's my outfit for Sunday:










Hat- thrifted
PUMPKIN Dress- Vintage, thrifted
Cardigan- Forever21
Sandals- Target

This armoire was awkwardly in my living room for a coupla of weeks after we found the $2 credenza at the thrift store that replaced it. Thankfully, we sold the armoire a few days ago so it's no longer hovering in the corner of my life. ha. Thank you, Craigslist!

Now it's your turn! Fall Fashion Day 2... hooray!

Fall Fashion Week - Saturday!

Aaaaand, they're off!

Here's my first outfit for the week:

So... does it look like I am trying to camouflage myself into my own living room?

Did any of you ever get traumatized watch that scary movie from the 80's called "When A Stranger Calls Back?". I'm the brick wall guy! boo!!!

(Apparently I dress like my house. hahahahaa.)

Hat- vintage, thrifted
bow- vintage, thrifted with clip glued on back
Cardigan- Forever21
Dress- Vintage, thrifted
Shoes- dolce vita from Ross

Now it's your turn!! Enter the link to your specific Saturday outfit post below, and then make sure to check out everyone else's looks and leave them some (sweet & lovely) feedback!

Can't wait to see you Fall fashionistas!

I Love You, Tomorrow.

TOMORROW our Fall Fashion Week begins! I'm so so excited.

I forgot to tell you all what the giveaway would be!!

The winner of the end-of-the-week drawing will get a
$45 giftcard to Modcloth!

(this fashion week is not sponsored by Modcloth in any way. I use the $ I get from the blogher ads on my site for my fashion week giveaways as a way to say THANK YOU to all my amazing readers!)

So... spread the word, snap some pictures, and come on back here tomorrow to share your first link for the big kickoff! And don't forget the most important part: check out everyone's looks and leave them lovely comments this week!

(Any link is welcome... Instagram, tumblr, flickr... if we can see it, you can share it!)


Here's a small button for sharing... Just copy and paste that HTML code in your blog or sidebar!

**For those of you viewing on a Reader, click through to get the html codes!**


<a href="http://emeryjo.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa122/emeryjo/fallfashionbigbutton.png"></a>

Or, here's the code for a BIGGER version if you'd like to do a separate post (like this one) to spread the word:

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Thanks and see you tomorrow! :)

Mother Weary.

My eyes snap open again in the heavy dark. It is 3:00AM. Something like the 14th consecutive 3:00AM I've seen blinking back red at me in the blackness of my room. My feet find the floor without my knowledge and I stumble toward the whimpering cry.

It's been two weeks of this. The sweet babe is not sleeping at night. 9:00. 11:00. 1:00. 3:00. 5:00...

Rest cut up into two hour pieces is no rest at all. It is a messy, violent thing that lingers and clings to the bones all the waking hours.

I feel worn thin, almost transparent.

Molars? Sickness?

Teeny tiny baby manipulation?

Whatever it is, it drains.

I would let the cries ring- I have no qualms against such things, but there are the others in this household that need their sleep much more than I. There are growing boys and a hard-laboring husband. These walls so close together muffle nothing. The hallway becomes a trumpet and I lunge to silence the blast.

The time-tested mother in me knows that this is only a short season... one brushstroke on the beautiful sprawling canvas, but the physical body knows nothing of seasons or brushstrokes. It knows only the weary now and it slowly grinds to a halt.

I brew more coffee.
Apply more concealer.
Pray in deep breaths,
And push through.

Dreaming Out Windows.

The days swell and splay and I'm left embedded a little further down into this life.

The feeling of cool moving air on my skin triggers wonder, after all those precariously stacked up weeks upon weeks of static heat. It's as if every single pore of my skin is gasping hard at it and I reel.



Out car windows I stretch arms, hands, fingers, until they pop. I lounge on picnic blankets and wiggle my toes in the sky. Never again will days like these be taken for granted. Every breeze and cloud and raindrop is grace to me now, forever.

Today is the first day that feels like Fall.

I throw open my doors to it and beg it to come in.



I sip tea, contemplate baking, stare out windows, and dream like I haven't dared to in years.

Truman Arthur, 6 months.

UGH. Total perfection, this babe.

I adore him so hard, sometimes when I'm holding him I just want to ABSORB him... engrave him into my memory like pressed tin so as to never forget. Those eyes, those lashes, that big toothy grin... I want to be able to run my fingers over these sweet things until they are worn smooth from the years.

He gurgles and coos and it sounds like cuteness incarnate. Like, I want to gather up his quiet little sounds and pet them and squeeze them and name them George.





He loves ears. And brothers. And brother's ears.





He's working on tooth 7 & 8 right now. SEVEN AND EIGHT. Try and wrap your mind around THAT.

(He has been kind to me though, the toothy monster, while breastfeeding. Unlike some of my other toothy children were. *cough*MYER*cough*cough*)





Life without Truman Arthur would be... less sparkly. Less giggly. Less drooly!




I am so thankful for him, this boy number three.

Happy 6 months, little Tru! You are the cherry on top!

Before & After: The Credenza.

I walked by a credenza in the thrift store the other day, standing up on its end, and I thought, "hmmm... potential!". I mentioned it to my husband but didn't think much else of it.

The next day Chris stopped by the thrift store on the way home and picked it up. We've been wanting to downsize from the huge armoire that has housed our TV all these years and eaten up a big chunk of our living space. It is just much too big for our little 1950's home.





This is what he brought home. A scuffed up old office credenza that was missing the two sliding doors on the front. But, oh! The potential!

I audibly gulped as I asked him how much they charged him for it. With furniture, you just never know.

It was %90 off of $24.99.

AKA TWO DOLLARS.

woooooo hooooooo!!

It needed some TLC, and we were more than willing to be the providers of it. My painting contractor husband did his wizardry on the finish, and within minutes, the scuffs and scrapes and dings had all but disappeared.

I had the idea of covering up the space where the doors were with a tension rod and some fabric.

And here's where we're at now:

















My husband spotted this awesome fabric in the store and he also had the idea of doing two tension rods instead of one so that the fabric would be taut. I spent the afternoon yesterday sewing while sipping chai and listening to some good jazz.

Heaven on earth? Yes indeedy.

I'm thinking we should start a business restoring old furniture. How fun would that be?!?

I am so happy with how it turned out!

All we have left to do is put on the new legs that I ordered from eBay, which should give it even more of a mid-century modern feel. I can't wait to see it all finished up!

My Thrifted Living Room Wall Collage.

I was recently inspired by my sweet neighbor Nikki to spruce up my walls a bit. I had just rearranged the furniture in the living room and had a big blank wall just sitting there staring at me, so I high-tailed it to the thrift store!

I found the large center piece first and then just kind of threw some random things up around it all haphazard-like.




I love how it all turned out! Here's some close up shots of the smaller pieces:











I love how it's a perfect combo of girly and manly things. :)

I got some of these pieces just last night after returning home with the most amazing thrift store bounty I've possibly ever stumbled upon in my life:


This was seriously only about 1/3 of the stuff I actually wanted to buy, but we're on this kooky thing called a "budget" so I refrained. hehe. There was a whole RACK full of new-ish Baby GAP clothes like this for $1.50 each. CRAZY!

I wish thrift store shopping could be a career. I could seriously do it EVERY SINGLE DAY. haha.

hi moose-goose!

I Took on Too Much Today.

bubbles! OF TERROR! hahaha.

I took on way too much today.

I didn't really mean to, it just all kind of... happened. TODAY.

It all started with a trip to the grocery store early this morning after Ezra was at school. We needed one of everything... you know how it goes... and I had an infant strapped to my chest and a 2 year old in the cart who has recently moved beyond "challenging" into the realms of "batpoop crazy".

We had to walk down every isle. And then I had to go back down a couple that I somehow missed things on, all while listening to the constant badgering from a certain 2 year old about the "tiny batteries" that I promised to buy him for his train.

(I fear I may have post-traumatic stress over the "tiny battery" torture that I endured this morning. If I ever hear the words "tiny batteries" again, I'm just going to scream and run with no preface whatsoever. Just so you know.)



Anywho, we did mostly OK in the store, despite stumbling upon the WORLD'S! SLOWEST! BAGGER! at the checkout, when I was mere inches from the finish line. She was as sweet as could be, and I really did appreciate her taking such care with my grocery items, but also? This baby ain't gettin' any lighter and this 2 year old ain't gettin' any quieter sweetheart. JUST THROW THE STUFF IN THE BAGS. I AM REALLY OK WITH MY BREAD ITEMS TOUCHING MY FROZEN ITEMS RIGHT NOW.

(Heck, I would have been okay with my food items touching my poison items at that point, hahaha.)

MYER: "Where's my TINY BATTERIES go mama??"

ME: *eye twitch*

So, I get all the (perfectly bagged!) groceries home and as I'm pulling into the driveway I remember the thing I always forget. I have to bring all this stuff inside somehow.



I realize that there are probably a few people out there who don't own a gaggle of children who are thinking in their perfectly coiffed heads, "...and?"

These are the people who have never had to juggle a sleeping infant in a carseat and a loud child or two in the other seats and a car full of frozen items that are quickly becoming baked items in the 111 degree heat and the concern over if a policeman happened to drive by and one's kids were all still strapped in the car while one was lugging armful after armful of groceries inside, how much time would one serve, exactly? And would the jail cell be relatively quiet where one could potentially hear one's own thoughts without having to maintain banter about "tiny batteries" for hours at a time?

Hmmm...... Wait. Why do I suddenly hear a ukulele playing in my head?

I leave the kids in the running car and bring in the endless bags. Then I bring in the children. Then I put everything away while also making lunch and setting up the pottytraining stuff and feeding the baby.

THEN I remember to go turn the car off. hahaha.



That brings me to THING TWO. Myer finally expressed an interest in potty training today. I was not about to let that opportunity slip through my fingers, so I girded my loins and pulled the dusty potty chair out into the living room. I set out juice boxes and fun Lightning McQueen undies and crazy straws and M&M's, and I dug in my heels.

Things were going great! For about... 20 minutes.



He went potty once after much coaxing, and was excited about the progress, but then something shut down in him. He wanted NOTHING to do with the potty after that.

What is a mother to do? Do you strong-arm your way through toward the goal? Do you give in the a child's desires and slap the diaper back on?

I tried the strong-arm approach.

I... pretty much lost. To a two-year-old. He's waaay too strong for me to fight right now.

After dragging a second "potty success" out of the child this evening, I checked my energy reserves. The tank was completely empty, and I had just fed Myer a half pound of M&M's right in the middle of dinner, just so he would stop freaking out and pee into a green plastic frog.

Not my finest parenting moment, let's just say that.



Oh, and THING THREE: I took all three kids to the library in there somewhere. I can't remember how it all worked out logistically. It's all a blur at this point.

So... yeah. I took on too much today.

Thank the sweet Lord Jesus that tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow I plan to stay in my jammies and change lots and lots of glorious diapers. That sounds like *heaven on earth* right about now, it really does. haha.

The Screeching Season.

**this post is inspired by this book and part of my continuation of hunting for more gratitude in my everyday life. I've started a series on Instagram & Flickr called #1000thanks where I am documenting the things I am thankful for, via images, throughout the day! Join me there or on Facebook or on Twitter if you'd like!**

These days have been battlefield days... the kind where every moment feels like imminent victory or imminent defeat, with no middle ground in between. One moment I am soaring high with thanksgiving on my lips, gratitude singing in my heart, joy lighting my face... the next I am hiding in the bedroom- breathing hard and reeling.


There is such a tension in my heart... like a violin string... held somewhere between singing and snapping sharp, coiling back.


I feel like this is all stemming from my dogged determination to dig up gratitude in the hard soil of my heart. It is... extremely hard work. Harder than I ever imagined it would be. But if you think about it, it is sort of akin to throwing a speeding car in reverse on the highway, isn't it? I have been driving so long and so hard and so far in discontentment! I have been wandering the road for 29 years, grumbling all the live long day! To throw my life suddenly into the direction of gratitude has not been easy. The tires are screaming and leaving melted layers on the asphalt. The smoke billows and every heavy ounce of kinetic energy is fighting the shift.

I am pressing against the momentum of an entire lifetime.


I'm in the screeching season.

I remind myself that it is just that... a season. It WILL become more natural, over time. As I do the hard work and hard practice of finding thankfulness in every day, every hour, it will become more like second nature. The momentum WILL eventually shift. Oh, I long for that to be the direction of my life!


But for now, it's the screeching season.

I will keep fighting. I will keep breathing. I will keep framing up these snapshots of gratitude... little memorials of God's goodness to me, to my family... preserved in time so that I can look.

(thanks for this verse, sweet anna joy!)

So that I can look and remember.