It's only paint, part 2

When we last left the master bedroom, it was greeny gold with giant brown furniture.

Giant brown bed, giant brown nightstands and no room to walk.

Because of the giant brown chest of drawers.  

There was about six inches of walking space around the bed and furniture.

That was not working at all, and we were both ready for a change.  I wanted to get rid of the matchy-matchy furniture, Drew wanted to paint the walls, so we ditched everything and started from scratch.

First, we tried down-sizing.  We brought in the queen-sized platform bed from the guest room and swapped out dressers.  The small dresser came into our room, the big dresser went into Sofia's room and the chest of drawers went into the guest room.  After paring down our clothes, everything fit in that small dresser.  It's amazing to realize what you really use when you get down to it; especially now that I'm pregnant, I can get by on a few shirts and a couple pair of jeans and I'm good.  

Downsizing the bed made the room feel ten times bigger 

and it was nice to have all that walking space.

Then that blurry small person in the left corner threw things off.

Two adults and a toddler who sleeps crazy do NOT work in a queen-sized bed, especially when one of those adults gives off enough body heat to melt the icecaps.  We had high hopes; we thought that by using a smaller bed, Sofia would magically stop wanting to sleep with us, but no dice.  We lived that way for about two weeks, when Drew got fed up with being too hot all night and I got fed up with being kicked in the head one too many times.  We needed a king-sized bed, just one with a smaller footprint.

We liked not having the chest of drawers in the bedroom, so we looked for storage beds.  However, the ones at Pottery Barn and West Elm were nasty expensive or didn't come in the size we needed.  So we turned to our friends at Ikea.  In my world, frames and vases are fine to buy from Ikea, furniture was not.  I had nightmares of the whole thing collapsing under us and I was not a fan.  But we couldn't find anything else for a decent price, so the Ikea Brimnes came home to us.  We've had it several weeks now and I'm happy to say that it feels sturdy, there's no creaking and it's actually not that bad.

  It was a bitch and a half to put together though.  

It took Drew from sunup to sundown to get the whole thing put together

and it's definitely a two person job.  Even though I was pregnant and couldn't lift anything,

I still had to hold one end while he put another end together, etc.

It was an ordeal and I'm glad my husband is an engineer, for real.

If it was up to me, we'd be sleeping on the floor.

The storage drawers are gigantic and we had no problem putting all our stuff in them and there's room to spare.  I'm going to change out the handles so they look less Ikea and we're getting new bedding, which should help as well.

Then it came time to paint.  I do the painting around here, because Drew doesn't like it and he's not the best at it.  (I wonder if he's not good at it on purpose...)  We went back and forth on colors forever because I wanted a bluish gray and he wanted yellow.

Marriage:  Pick Your Battles.

There are some mountains I'll die on; wall color is not one of them.

It was a close one between Fairmont Lobby Cream and Jersey Cream, 

but in the end Jersey Cream won.

I patched the holes, put three coats of paint over the greeny gold, told myself that

you can't see the green coming through and voila!  Jersey Cream all over the place!

Oh, and we got the Brimnes headboard and that cutout at the bottom fits over the baseboard

heat perfectly, so maybe Ikea's not so bad after all.

Okay, now this is super ghetto so y'all don't laugh at me.

But I need to see things before they happen.

shelf source picture

basket source picture

The right side of the bed needs balance, so I thought about getting three Lack shelves from Ikea and putting a basket underneath the shelves.  The shelves will address the randomness that's happening on top of the headboard.  We just threw things up there and it's not working for me, but they have no other place to go.  The basket will fix my other issue:  This is Drew's side of the bed and even though the laundry hamper is RIGHT OUTSIDE the bedroom, somehow that's too far for my dear husband and his clothes are always on the floor between here and the bathroom.  So fine, I'll get a basket.  

flower picture source

antlers

Those dirty clothes are not floating in space; they're on a storage bench I plan to recover.  I don't want to overload the room with pictures, but we need something on these walls.

And I think a grid of frames would look really nice on this wall.

This is the bedding I want.

The duvet with three euro shams would be so hot.

Drew is voting for gray.

I'm debating whether or not this is my mountain.

I think black would be so dramatic and grown up and chic.

He thinks gray would go better with the yellow walls.  We'll see.

We might even get super crazy and put a cowhide rug somewhere in here.  I think it might be fun to cover the bench like this one, or maybe we'll just put it on the floor like regular people.  So those are the plans for our bedroom, and I'm putting this out there for input.  Not the 'these are the dumbest ideas ever' input; rather, I'm looking for the 'hey, check out this bedding place or this site for art or this seller for cool stuff' kind of input.  After all, it was you fine readers who led me to my dream diaper bag, so I'm sure y'all are a wealth of information about all kinds of stuff.

Next up is Sofia's big girl room.  While I was typing part of this post, she had her first successful nap in her big girl bed, so it's time to change things up in there!  And of course, we have to do New Baby's nursery, and I've got plans for that room too. 

It's been a year in this house, and it's finally starting to feel like home...

You get a bag!

Im doing this from my phone, so I have no idea how it's going to look on your computers... So, here's what I did: Those who said they wanted the bag went in a list. 

Then I used the number generator at random.org. I did it once and I don't think I've ever been more nervous. I've also decided I don't like picking, even though I didn't really pick. I felt like I had too much power and it made me itchy. 

Ann-Jennifer! Come on down!

Email me at desireesdaydreams@gmail.com so I can get your info. 

I hate hate hate that I don't have more stuff to give. But justdiaperbags.com does have 20% off with the promo code shop20. I emailed their customer service yesterday to see if I could do anything more for you guys and they laughed in my face because I am a nobody blogger. I looked for their corporate number I see if I could talk to someone higher than customer service but I didn't find anything. *sad clown*

They're in Fairfield county in CT, if anyone can find a number for me to call. I'm way better at asking for things on others' behalf than I am asking for myself. 

Ok, there you have it! Thank you so much for reading and being awesome. You guys are the best!!

That time a miracle happened

Me and my hormones have been fighting, y'all.  Last night I was bawling my eyes out because I don't know how to dress a newborn and I gave away all of my winter newborn clothes, so of course New Baby is going to have a terrible start in life and it's going to be all my fault.  My lovely husband does not have the first clue about pregnancy hormones and sat there bewildered at why I was crying over our lack of newborn socks.  He kept asking me what was wrong.  Hmmm, I'm almost five months pregnant, it's 9 o'clock at night and I'm sitting on the bed crying because we have no newborn socks.  What in the world could possibly be wrong here?  How about, I'm five months pregnant, it's 9 o'clock at night and we have no newborn socks.  That's as good a reason as any to bust out crying, wouldn't you say? 

And just as quickly as it started, I went to bed and woke up refreshed and happy and 'normal' again.  I tell you what, these hormones are a trip.

It is in this state, the happy normal state, that I'm going to write.  The other state is just ridiculous and I have fun stuff to write about!  This first one you're going to need to sit down, it's that serious.

About a year ago, I was on the hunt for the perfect diaper bag.  My original bag was gorgeous and I loved it but it wasn't cutting it, so I surrendered to a formal diaper bag.  It was still stylish and cute and it carried everything I wanted it to, but there was still a longing in my heart.

Kate - I love you, I miss you, I think of you often.

I still randomly thought about ways that I could bring Kate home to me; I thought about what I could sell, be it my clothes, my shoes, my hair.  But then I got pregnant again and Sofia started school and we need to do another nursery, and we redid our bedroom and we need to get stuff for that, and we're redoing the laundry room, and the stuff we needed pushed my Kate further and further away.  Ah well, such is life.  For a fleeting moment, I wondered if I could wrangle a Kate out of Drew as my push present.

Then one day, I got an email from a friend of mine.  She said I could tell this story, but she didn't say if I could use her name so for now she's going to be 'a friend of mine.'  She reads the blog, but we have totally bonded over our stellar, rock-star parents (can you see your brain because you rolled your eyes so hard?  Good.)  I emailed with her for hours on the 4th of July just talking about parents, kids and life stuff.  She's a super cool chick and of course she lives on the other side of the country, because that's how these things work.  

On this fateful day, I opened my email and she was like, So hey, would you be interested in a Belle?  It's not the Kate, but it's nice too.  I emailed her back that I would love a Belle, but Drew would most certainly divorce me if I spent money on something I didn't need, as there are so many other things that we have to get right now.  

Ok, I have to collect myself, because here's where I start squealing and hyperventilating.

........

She was like, No, I'll give it to you.

Now, what I really want to do is put that previous sentence in giant bold neon pink flashy letters because that's how major that is.  But I'm trying to be cool here, so please read that in giant flashy letters because that's how I felt.  I nearly fell out of my chair.  Actually, what I did was get up from my computer and walk to the other side of the house, because I was certain that my computer was going to explode or something after a statement like that.  People don't just give you your dream diaper bag.  Things like that don't happen in real life and I just knew my computer was possessed.

I tiptoed back to my computer to see that it hadn't exploded.  I responded to the email with lots of caps locks and exclamation points and stuttery sentences.  Somehow I gave her my address; I can't be sure because I was in a fog.  I insisted on paying for shipping; she said no, that she had enough money for postage in her couch cushions, which is really funny because I use that exact same phrase all the time.  I smiled out loud when I read that.  We use the same phrase!  We're practically twins! (Don't act like you don't do the same thing.)

And then I waited, certain that the bag would never come, that this was a trick of some sort because these types of things just don't happen.  Yet, one day a box was on my front step and I brought it inside and didn't open it for nearly a week, because I knew what was inside and I was afraid that if I opened it, the bag would disintegrate because it was never real in the first place.  

Then I opened the box, and commenced to squealing and hyperventilating because sitting there, in real life, was the most beautiful bag I'd ever seen.  I actually took a video of me opening it, but I quickly erased it because it sounded like a porn.  There was lots of heavy breathing and lots of whispered 'Oh my God' and things like that should never be subjected to your delicate ears.  So I took pictures instead.

    It's everything I dreamed it would be and more.

Love at first sight.

Another photoshoot, a couple of days later, after I'd calmed down.

Also, I swear I'm pregnant.  For some reason, I don't feel like I'm showing

as quickly this time around, although the baby is measuring a little bigger than the dates.

I'm definitely not complaining, it just makes it hard to take belly pictures.

18-ish weeks and there's just not much to see yet.

And I really need to quit taking pictures in the Bathroom of Hate

but it's the only place with a large enough mirror.

And then it sat in my bedroom for another week because I was afraid to soil its grace 

and beauty with my lowly peasant possessions.

So it sat, perched atop a throne of dirty clothes.  

This bag deserved more than that, I know.

I was so in awe of the amazing kindness of my friend and I kept questioning how it was that I came to be so blessed, that it took over a week to dawn on me.  I'm sure you saw it the second you saw the first picture, but it took me a while longer because I was in such a daze.

This bag was not the Belle.  In fact, it was the KATE.

When someone offers to give you a diaper bag that magnificent, you don't bother with the details.  You get down on your knees and give a prayer of thanks that you have been blessed, and you sure as hell don't scrutinize your amazing gift. That's why it took me a minute to realize that this bag was my ultimate dream diaper bag, not simply another amazing bag from the same bad-ass designer.  Then I got all squealy and started hyperventilating all over again.  

I ran to look at the email again.  My friend said she was getting the Kate and did I want the Belle, yet the Kate was sitting in my bedroom.  There was only one explanation.  She'd given me the wrong bag.  I fell over myself running back to my computer, barely typing fast enough to explain the mix-up, reassuring her that I hadn't even used the bag, I'd barely even breathed on it and I would put it back in the mail to her that day.

She lol'd, told me she ended up going a different way, and that the Kate was mine to keep.

Please read that in giant neon flashy letters.

I reverently walked into my bedroom, gently lifted Kate from her throne and ceremoniously began to transfer my things from my Marilyn to the Kate.  My Kate.  It's smaller than the Marilyn, but everything fit and there was even room to spare.  That's the magic of the Kate.  

This bag is so beautiful, it's insanely well-made and it's easily the prettiest thing I own.  And it was a gift.  From an amazing awesome friend to whom I am forever grateful.  For real and for serious.

So here's the thing - I need to pay this forward.  I cannot be the only person who gets to be this happy.  That's why I want one of you to have my Marilyn.

I just went on the Timi and Leslie website and this is a discontinued style.

So you can say it's a limited edition, and be even cooler.

Then in a few years, you can say it's vintage and people will bow down to you.

A few years after that, it becomes a classic.  That's how these things work.

Anyway, I want one of you to have it.  I have no idea how to do this, as I'm typing this as I'm thinking it up.  I'm not a big time blogger who does giveaways once a week.  I've never in life done a giveaway because I hate the thought of only one winner; I love you guys so much I wish I could give you all a diaper bag.  But since I have zero dollars to my name, this is the best I can do because I want to do something and this is what I came up with.

The bag is as good as new and it's gorgeous - you know I wouldn't have chosen it if it wasn't awesome.  It has all the accessories except for the bottle holder; since I breastfed I never bothered with bottles and I didn't get too concerned when it got lost in the move.  Although, I'll look around and see if I can't find it for you.  I think I may have seen it in my closet.

ANYWAY!  I'm so rambling right now!  Leave me a comment but I don't know, try to say something more than 'Gimme yer bag!'  Even though I'm going to use random.org to pick a number for me, I just wouldn't feel right giving it to someone I've never heard from before who was all, Gimme gimme!  Although if that's how you want to be, I don't suppose I can stop you, but I will hope that the random number picker doesn't pick you.  But you guys are so amazing and wonderful that I know that won't happen.  I've just seen giveaways where the greedy ugly people come out and it's just greedy and ugly.

Good LORD let me stop typing already!  Ok!  Leave a comment, get a bag!  I'll take care of shipping it to you; I've got postage money in my couch cushions.  Except, don't hate me, but it's got to be someone in the lower 48.  I don't have enough postage money to be sending things to Australia and stuff.  We'll do this until Wednesday, I'll pick Thursday morning, get your info and I'll put it in the mail on Friday.  Sound good?

Once again, my friend, you are beautiful and I thank you so very much.  Every time I pick up my kick ASS diaper bag I stand a little taller and I smile a little bit.  You did that.  

Thank you.