How time flies

Flickr: picasnpoints

My little girl turned three years old a few weeks ago. Three. T-H-R-E-E! It is amazing to me how fast time flies - I never noticed how quickly the hours, days, months, and years pass until I became a parent. 

We had cupcakes for her birthday party - with Big Bird in a tow truck pulling Elmo in a sports car on top. We had red and purple car decorations and balloons, which are always a delight (and the balloons are still going strong! don't believe a sales person who says they only last 12 hours, they've lasted more than 12 days by now!).  I know it won't be much longer that we'll get to celebrate with Sesame Street characters.
 

She's speaking in full sentences now. She tells stories. She tells jokes. She gives the best hugs and "bachiks" (bachik is the Armenian word for "kiss").

 We are saying prayers to Heavenly Father together almost every night, and I always ask her "what do you want to thank Heavenly Father for tonight?" and she always has a genius, super-cute and (usually) super sweet answer. Tonight, she wanted to thank Him for her cousins, and she proceeded to name them (well, the two that she is familiar with - she has more cousins than she knows!). In the past, we've said thank you for babies (what she calls all of her dolls and stuffed animals), ice cream, and other family members (*cough, cough* mommy and daddy *cough, cough*). 

Being a mom is definitely the coolest job ever.  I've learned that I can survive (and even thrive, when necessary!) on little to no sleep; that sharing my love of cooking and food with a toddler is super fun - especially when she discovers a new food that she loves; and my greatest joy in life is experiencing my child's happiness. 

How have you learned to measure (and notice) the time that is passing by?

New year, changes, challenges

Flickr: peace&love

  Happy new year, ya'll! I hope your 2012 is off to a great start. Things have been hectic around here, but I've gotten a lot accomplished in the name of organization at home lately, which has made me feel really good. I didn't make any resolutions for the year, but I have made some challenges for myself, one of them being to get more organized, with all things home, work, and school-related. Unfortunately, I did not take any "before" pictures of my messes, but I might share my "after" pictures because I am pretty proud of my results. I'll talk more about my challenges in another post. Right now, I want to talk about what's been on my mind lately, and why I've been away from the blog for over a month....


Well, the holidays did not turn out to be the relaxing family time we had hoped for, as we faced a somewhat unexpected death in the family just days before Christmas. It was my husband's grandmother, but she had become my grandma too. For the last few months she had been struggling some health-wise, but the doctors always assured us whatever was happening was not too serious...then, just when she started to show great improvement, she was suddenly gone. I told my husband it was because she didn't want to spend another Christmas away from Grandpa (who passed away about 29 years ago - they were apart for a very long time, and she never even so much as looked at another man, her husband was her soul mate).  We spent pretty much every Sunday with her, so our weekends are still bittersweet these days as we remember our happy times together. I think it will be this way for awhile as we get used to the new rhythm of our weekends.


It is interesting that both my husband and I had grandparents that were so in love, that knew they had found their soul mates in each other, that when our grandfathers passed years and years prior to their wives, our grandmothers simply waited patiently to be able to join them in Heaven, without ever even considering looking at another man. To us, this was such a testament of commitment and true love and made us realize the power of love between our grandparents. Both my husband and I used to spend the night and the weekend at Grandma's house when we were growing up rather than going to friend's houses. We were both very close with each of our grandmothers, and we both miss our grandmothers. There is something so special about a grandmother's love...and I'm privileged to see it now between my mom and my mother-in-law and my little girl. It's magical. 


Then, I think about how both of us come from divorced parents, and how that has influenced us to take our marriage and our commitment to each other so seriously. I like to think that we are more like our grandparents than our parents when it comes to love and marriage, and we do feel like we have to set an example for our friends and family by having a loving, lasting, strong marriage. This takes a lot of work on both of our parts (and it's not always easy!) but having a loving marriage makes for a loving, comfortable home for our family, and that is what is most important. There are disagreements, there are sad times, there are difficult times, but then there is making up, many, many, many happy times, and easy, joyful moments that happen all the times. So yes, marriage and family life present great challenges, but it is a great joy to create a family and start new traditions together and just grow our love.


2012 will be different and challenging in new ways and we will have to learn to adjust accordingly. Are you making any adjustments or challenges for yourself in 2012? 

Princesses take bubble baths & preparing for the holidays

Whoa, so it's been over a month since I've gotten on here to post and now Blogger looks totally different. I guess we can miss out on stuff when we take a break sometimes, huh? Well, the break was unintentional but much needed. The holidays are a super-stressful time for me, we have a big family here, which is a wonderful blessing but also makes planning any holiday event a huge headache undertaking.


Luckily, we survived Thanksgiving with only minor bumps along the way (like the fact that I have been sick with a sinus infection + bronchitis since the week before Thanksgiving...just finished my 2nd round of antibiotics last week and starting to feel a bit better)...we had lots of leftovers which led me to make my first-ever Turkey Tetrazzini, which turned out pretty damn delicious and amazing if I do say so myself. Thanks to my pal, Sabrina, for her inspiration of a recipe and Pinterest for providing additional resources when I realized I didn't have everything I needed to make Sabrina's recipe at home. :)

In the pic above, I am sporting my new fingerless gloves thanks to my blogging buddy, Beverly (I love them, Bev!) and drinking some Christmas Spice hot tea (think apples, cinnamon, cranberries, nutmeg flavor in your tea... delish!)...it's 40* out today and about as cold as I can tolerate. I live in the south for a reason, people! I'm so sorry for those of you who live in colder climates, I don't know how you do it! While snow is pretty to look at - I'll take seeing it on TV over actually living in it, thankyouverymuch.

I have good news to report on the bath-avoiding 2-year-old: if you tell her princesses take bubble baths, then she'll believe she can be like a princess by taking a bubble bath, and will agree to enter the tub every so often (phew! my daughter won't be the stinky kid in class after all!). I know this tactic probably won't work for long, but hopefully it will get to her to at least enjoy taking baths again. I'm also strategically planning to get her new bath toys for Christmas so hopefully that will add to her excitement about getting in the tub every so often!

Someone asked the other day on my last post about the job I just left. I don't want to give too many specifics, but in my last job, I was a graduate program coordinator. The students were great, but I didn't get to interact with them much and the department where I was working came to be a very toxic environment for me. Lots of negativity and discord makes for an unhappy place to work. 

In my new job, I'm an assistant director and I get to work with mentoring programs and student success initiatives - woooohoooooo! This is pretty much my dream job. I also have a dream boss - who is female (thank goodness! we need more female leaders in higher education!) and just all-around awesome. 

Besides enjoying my new job... lately, our world has revolved around Christmas movies and TV specials (Charlie Brown Christmas and Home Alone [both 1 & 2] are favorites 'round these parts...can't wait to catch Prep & Landing, Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, Love Actually, and Little Women at some point... so many fab Christmas movies!) decorating (lovely lights up on our house for the first time; getting to hang new creations by the 2-year-old on the tree has been great) and trying to figure out how to afford getting Christmas gifts for everyone on our list (as I mentioned - big family over here). I'm being creative and crafty and thrifty this year, and hopefully everyone will enjoy their gifts.  

Most importantly, though, I've learned it's important for me to try to slow down this time of year or I won't enjoy the season for all the stress. Since our daughter is little, we are going all out with decorations (more so than I would like, to be honest) - but she gets a kick out of it, which is the best present I could ever ask for. It's all about making the season merry for her! I want her to always remember Christmas as a magical time, and a few twinkly lights certainly help with that. I have simplified my gift list as much as possible and am attempting to decide on a simple, easy Christmas Eve meal that will feed a crowd (in the neighborhood of 20 people or so)....so if you have any genius ideas on that, please share in the comments!

I have to remember to KISS this time of year -- Keep it Simple Santa and all will go more smoothly (or at least I think so). For me, this means fewer presents (for example, buying one gift for a couple rather than individual gifts for each), more handmade items, more gifts of time together, and simple eats are what I'm all about this year. 

How are you preparing for the holidays??

New beginnings and new behaviors

Well, today was my first day at my new job. While it was by no means mind-blowing in terms of excitement level (I unpacked my office, met some new people, got my printer hooked up, and started to delve into some important reading), it was a great day. 

Last night was the first Sunday night in a long time that I went to bed early (before 10pm which is like a miracle for me!) and slept like a baby all.night.long. No Monday morning dread! No feeling sick to my stomach! It was amazing to feel GOOD about going to work.

After a great day at work, I whipped up a quick breakfast-for-dinner with fried potatoes seasoned with Old Bay (if you've never made breakfast potatoes with Old Bay, they were delicious), and an egg scramble skillet with kale, onion, mushroom, and poblano pepper. Great veggie combo, in my opinion! 


After cleaning the kitchen, I told my little one it was time to take a bath. Which usually results in a "Yay bath!".... but now, all of a sudden, causes her to declare "I do NOT want to take a BATH!" ...and the tears and yelling commence. *sigh* I guess a good day wouldn't be complete without a really good toddler tantrum, right? (Long story short: she took a bath, kicking and screaming and crying the whole way...but at least she's clean).

How was your Monday? Has anyone else's 2-year-old ever developed a sudden aversion to the bath?

On anxiety and hope

Flickr: Anxiety;Angustia by gaudier20

Anxiety is something I could really live without. The sick-to-my-stomach feeling, my heart beating out of control, the headaches, the nausea. It's not fun. And lately, I've been having a lot of this. The last time I had anxiety attacks, I was in a horrible relationship in college. I was naive, and I was letting others take advantage of me. Not anymore! Now, I'm in a wonderful marriage, and my partner truly makes me happy; he definitely relieves my anxiety. Unfortunately, I can't shrink him down and carry him around in my pocket all day; although, sometimes I really wish I could....

This time around, my anxiety is resulting from a different type of detrimental relationship: one with work. I have had some great experiences in my current job, but I've had some bad ones, too. I need a change, and I'm getting one, in 2 weeks. I work with a handful of good people who I will miss; but I will not miss the anxiety and stress I'm experiencing on a daily basis. Some of it, I can't even really explain...but I can say there is a lot of negativity in this particular office, and even though it's mostly not directed at me, being around so much discontent is wearing on me, day after day. I'm tired and I'm stressed and I'm frustrated; I'm no longer learning and growing, as I hope to do in each position I undertake. It is time for a change.


A special thank you to my guardian angel who found the position announcement and whispered in my ear that this would be a perfect new job for me. A totally unexpected, yet welcome, surprise. Just in the nick of time, I think.

My mom has always told me that I should love what I do, that I should get up everyday and feel good about going to work. 

That hasn't happened in a long time. 

I think it will happen with this new job. I have high hopes, and I have dreams, but for the first time in a long time, I will know I'm really making a difference for my institution, and most importantly, for the students. 

Learning new skillz

Hi Everyone! 

I always feel the need to greet you all, I feel impolite if I don't write a greeting message at the beginning of my post. It's the southern girl in me, I suppose... 
It's so kind of you to stop by, please sit and stay awhile. Take a look around. And have a cup of hot tea (or coffee? or whatever beverage you like??). 'Cause that's how I roll...on about 5 cups of hot tea a day, all different flavors. Case in point: today I drank strawberry mango black tea, morning dew green tea (it has coconut and almonds in it), sweet banana creme herbal tea, caramel biscotti rooibos (red) tea, and white coconut dulce white tea. Yeaaaaah buddy, it was a good tea day. Ok, it's a little late and now I'm just getting loopy. On with the rest of my post already.... 

I've been busy learning how to do all sorts of things lately, including a little sewing project and refashioning of a fave pair of jeans, as well as trying out new, yummy recipes. I'll share my little "projects" today and tell you all about the recipes another day! 

I would LOVE to learn to sew, to be able to sew myself a skirt or simple shirt or something, and to one day sew little outfits (or Halloween costumes?!) for my little girl....but I don't have a sewing machine, and with the dissertation I'm supposed to be working on and being employed full-time and a mom and a wife and all, the major sewing skills I desire are not going to be developed anytime soon. Sooo... I experimented with some simple refashioning and hand-sewing skills that I figure will come in handy in the meantime. 


I figure this is one more way I can take fashion into my own hands. Take that, fast fashion mongers!



First, I pinned this tutorial on Pinterest about how to hem your jeans and keep the original hem (i.e., without hacking off the original hem):

Source: sewmuchado.blogspot.com via Clara on Pinterest

I needed more visuals, so I also checked out this tutorial:

Source: denimblog.com via Clara on Pinterest

                                                   Her visuals were helpful. The pink marks stand out!

and also this one:

Source: kaylaksthriftyways.com via Clara on Pinterest

                                                       Good explanation here, and more visuals. 
 

I followed the directions (I read through all three of the sites and studied the images before starting), and it totally worked. I got a great result on this pair of wide-leg, high-waisted jeans my mom bought me awhile ago but I hadn't worn yet 'cause they were way too long (and apparently it's too much trouble for me to find a tailor). These jeans are totally in style now so I'm glad I finally put my big girl britches on and learned to hem my own jeans! It's a neat trick and a good skill to keep in my back pocket for when too-long pants or jeans come my way, which is fairly often, as I'm seemingly a bit too tall for "short" inseams yet too short for "regular" inseams. I'm *almost* 5'5", but I guess I have a long torso and short-ish legs? Long story short (ha ha, get it??), pants are usually too long for me so I'm sure I'll become an expert at this hemming trick very soon.

Here's the hem on my jeans, you can't even tell they were hemmed:

I did it! I hemmed my jeans!

Next, I pinned this photo on my style inspiration board: 

Source: clothedmuch.com via Clara on Pinterest

When I saw this cute picture of Brittney from A Day in the Life Too... on Elaine's blog, Clothed Much, I wanted her shorts. Or jorts?? I think people call jean shorts "jorts" these days, but I don't know really, because I haven't worn shorts in about 5 years, since I usually don't like the way they look on me. 

But I saw Brittney's jorts, and I loved how comfy and well-worn they looked, and the cute raw edges folded up at the knee. So I set out to recreate them, but in a darker denim, and hoped I would like them after hacking off an old, but much loved, pair of jeans. I laid a pair of knee-length pajama shorts on top of my jeans to figure out where to cut my jeans.

Here is my result:

Jorts!

The verdict: I totally love these shorts (jorts?!)! They are my new favorite weekend wear, and I'm getting every last wear out of them while it's still warm down here in Florida. They are fitted, knee-length, and the raw edges look awesome folded up just so... just like Brittney's, as a matter of fact. Hey, isn't imitation the most sincere form of flattery? I hope Brittney thinks so! 

Have you learned any new skills lately? Do you try to hem your own pants, if necessary? Do you know of any other *SIMPLE* sewing or refashioning tricks I can do by hand (or with a pair of scissors)???

Midweek musings: on fashion and style

I've already 'fessed up on how much I've been obsessed with developing a better sense of style, because Project 333 has taught me so much, and how much shopping for new things now stresses me out. Hopefully ya'll aren't sick of reading about my wardrobe woes (definitely a first-world problem, I'm fully aware), it's just something that's been on my mind so much lately.  I suppose this is because I feel like I'm at a defining point in my life...and thinking about how to define my style is sort of playing into this moment in time.

As I've mentioned before, I've become very inspired by so many fabulous fashion bloggers out there, but perhaps the most "inspirational" part of admiring their unique styles is that so many of them wear awesome clothes that they have thrifted. As in, they found the pieces at Salvation Army, Goodwill, and other stores with cool names that sell pretty vintage or gently used clothes on the cheap.  

I've been reading a lot about the downsides of "fast fashion" (think Target, Old Navy and Forever 21)  but I still love their great prices. Will I swear off shopping at these stores completely? Probably not...although it's been YEARS since my last Forever 21 purchase, I do think you can find a few good pieces at places like these - but they are best for trendier items, not the classics. My shopping from these stores has significantly dropped in recent years, even before I really knew how bad the fast fashion retailers are, simply because I've become more interested in getting really great, classic pieces to add to my wardrobe - and those are hard (if not impossible) to come by in fast fashion locales.

I've also found some great organic, fair-trade, and/or handmade clothing lines/stores...unfortunately, these usually end up being pretty pricey, limiting what I can actually afford to purchase, as much as I'd like to support these companies that are making great products in an ethical and eco-friendly manner. 


So, my newest solution (revolutionary it is not) is to actually try shopping the thrift stores and see what I can find. I've scouted out Salvation Army and Goodwill several times so far, to no avail (although I understand from thrifting veterans that you just have to go often because merchandise turns over frequently...I'm aiming to go once every 2 weeks or so, which is truthfully a lot of shopping time for me). I actually found a cute pair of Coach oxfords at Goodwill on my first trip, but they were a deep brown, something I know I wouldn't wear often...so I passed on them, in spite of their $4 price tag. I'm not going to buy ANYTHING simply because it's cheap; I really have to love it and know that I'll wear it. 

I've also been scouting out Ebay for new and gently used clothing on the cheap (it's great cuz I can sort items to find something specific I'm looking for) and Etsy (remember how much I love Etsy?) for great vintage finds.

Also, I've noticed that a lot of fashion bloggers offer items from their own closets up for sale every so often. I did just buy a skirt off a fashion blogger that I love, her name is Meredith and she blogs over at Yours, Mine & Ours. I had actually pinned this pic of Meredith and her cute little boy, since I adored this skirt so much. 

                                                                   Source: cardiganempire.com via Clara on Pinterest

So when I saw it for sale on her blog, I grabbed it up (yippee! Thanks, Mer - I love it!). I have to say, I just got it yesterday and I'm wearing it today and I think this will be one of my favorite skirts. It even has POCKETS, which have come in handy several times today:

Shirt: Target (clearance - $3!). I thought the stripes were black when I bought it. Then, when I got home, I looked again and I thought they were navy. Now, I think they're actually either gray or olive...and yes, I need to get my eyes checked. Um, and yes, the stripes go all the way down the shirt, sorry for the weird glare that makes the stripes disappear while simultaneously making me look a little pregnant (I assure you, I am not). On a side note, I justified this purchase because I've been wanting another cute striped tee...and at $3, this one fits the bill.

Skirt: Secondhand - thanks again, Meredith!

Shoes: Mia (don't remember where I got these shoes because I've had them for YEARS, but they are so comfy!)

Necklace: 31 bits via Pure Citizen

And here's a close up of my gorgeous 31 bits necklace:

 

I just wear this beauty when I go to work, though, because I know my 2-year-old would steal it and possibly break and/or otherwise ruin it, so I hide the necklace in my shirt when she's around, which takes out all the fun of it accessorizing my outfit. So when I'm not sporting it at work, I usually keep it high on my dresser or hanging in my closet, safely out of the little miss' reach. Such is the life of a mom's necklaces. 


So, that's my outfit of the day, and what I've learned about how to shop more ethically. I'm hoping to round out my wardrobe with a few more secondhand finds for fall. I'll keep ya'll posted on my progress! 

Here's a few resources for further reading: 

Good thoughts on the "core wardrobe" here:

Source: charadestyle.com via Clara on Pinterest

And more:

The Good Closet
A Minimalist take on clothing
5 Guidelines to help you create a stunning, basic wardrobe
Thoughts from Kristy of the One Dress Protest
The Difficulty of Getting Dressed
Better World Shopper - includes a ranking of popular stores, and notice what's at the top!