The Namesake

As I mentioned in a previous post, our little guy will be named after his great-great grandfather Remi. Yesterday afternoon I received a very special package from Bryan's Grandmother Alice. She put together a book of family history which includes a great deal about Remi Sabbe, his wife Irma, and their journey to build a life and family together in the United States. It is such a special gift, I thought I would share some of my favorite pieces.

Below is Remi with Bryan's grandfather Albert. I love that he is riding a tricycle! I think I am going to enlarge this and frame it next to the art I posted yesterday.

 Remi, Irma, and little Albert.

And this is Remi and Irma, holding baby Michael, Bryan's dad. He was their first grandchild.

Remi will be the first great-grandchild on this side of Bryan's family. I'm excited to add his story to the book. Thank you Grandma Alice for all your hard work in creating this very special keepsake!

Maternity Pics

We are leaving for a ski trip this evening. I will not be skiing, but I have a million things to do to get ready before we head out. The photographer who did our maternity session sent us a video link with all of the edited images yesterday, so I thought I would share. If you are in the Boston area, Bella is great to work with!

I'm, on average (pregnant), 10 degrees hotter than Mr. Sabbe.. So the one where he looks freezing, he really is freezing. He was a good sport!

If you didn't catch it, our little guy's name is going to be Remi Michael

Remi is his great-great grandfather's name. He was the first Belgian from Mr. Sabbe's clan to come to the United States. Michael is his grandfather's name and his daddy's middle name. We can't wait to meet him!

Winter Dusk

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned it, but Mr. Sabbe is a wannabe photographer as well. He had the day off to celebrate our Presidents, which unfortunately is not acknowledged as an official holiday where I work. But I decided to call it a day early and we headed across the river to A. get an awesome milkshake and B. catch the muddy Charles in one of it's finest forms.

Isn't she lovely? You can hardly tell the difference between the snow covered water and the sky.

It's a Boston sandwich.

I think he has plans to go back for round two from the Mass Ave bridge.

I'm hoping round two is a teeny bit warmer.

  

A Valentines Party + A Story

A couple of years ago Mr. Sabbe and I had the pleasure of hosting a Valentines Day couples shower at our house in Memphis. It was so much fun to have an adult Valentines Day party with all of our best friends.

bleeding heart cherry pie tutorial

 I had purchased a heart shaped cookie cutter that year. As you can see, I used it liberally.

And if I could have boxed up this crew and moved them with me to Boston I would have. I think between the 5 of us we threw about 2 dozen showers while we were in Memphis. I miss these people.

Last year I made mustache pops.

Now for the story:

Being the crafter that I am, I so wish I could show ya'll what I made Mr. Sabbe for our first Valentines Day. We still have it somewhere in storage. We had been dating 1 whole month when Valentines Day rolled around. Mind you, I already knew I was probably going to marry him. I was a sophomore in college and he was a junior. So to show my affection, I drive myself to Joann's and buy a round hat box and a jar of decoupage. Then I proceed to go home and cut out every pink and red image from every fashion magazine my roommate and I had in our dorm room. I also cut out words like "romance" "like" "date"...etc {bleeh, I know} and glued them all over the box. Then about an hour before he picks me up I attempt to bake cookies in our scary sorority dorm kitchen. I burn them to a crisp. I pick out the ok ones, put them inside the cardboard box {still hot} and head on down for my date. It was actually a group date. Two of my friends were dating Mr. Sabbe's friends at the time, so they got together to cook dinner for us. And here I come rolling in with my huge decoupaged love box, smelling like burnt cookies. And in front of all of his friends I present him with the all time greatest cheesy gift and the sweet boy receives it with pride. And that's when I knew I was definitely going to marry him. I found the box in his closet 6 months later, cookies still inside.

Remind me later to tell you about the time I made him a hand painted, collage, quote mirror for his 21st birthday. I mean, what 21 year old doesn't want a puff painted mirror with famous quotes?? What is wrong with me?!

Bostonians! You Should Visit My Church

Visit the website here. We meet in the auditorium of this school. Plenty of free parking! 

I would love to see it get a little greener up here.

I Won't Creep You Out With an Ultrasound Pic

I really think those pics are something only a mother can love. My friend Jenny told me she had nightmares for weeks that her baby was going to look like Sloth from the Goonies after the doctor gave her her first round of 3-D pics. I prefer the old fashioned, black and white, silhouette myself. And instead of looking too closely before he's done cooking, I prefer to look at his clothes. Here are some of my recent faves.

Bryan's grandmother knitted this...amazing

 My sweet friend Erin sent him this hat last week that she found on Etsy.

I love handmade gifts and sweet friends.

And I found these little booties at Baby Gap last week for $4.50. Score.

Baby clothes, much cuter than 3-D ultrasound pics, right?

Before and After: Stripes!

When you enter our apartment, you enter a hallway that serves as an artery to all of the other spaces. At first I thought it was wasted space, but over time I have realized that this space is awesome. It's a contained area to shed boots, coats, hats, etc. so that the New England winter, and all it's glory, does not have to make it's way into my living room, on my sofa, and all over my dining table. It's also my first impression room and other than a couple of coat hooks and some framed calender pages, it was pretty boring.

The hallway also contains a billy bookcase from Ikea. This is where I keep most of our glasses and plates. Maybe one day I will show you how ridiculously small our kitchen is.  You will not be jealous.

So I had been thinking about an easy way to spruce up this space. One that would be A. Cheap and B. Mr. Sabbe would be down for doing. Last year I was super impressed with Hannah's striped hallway on a budget and it just so happens I was walking through Home Depot a couple of weeks ago and spotted a gallon of oops paint in a similar shade of gray. So cheap part...check.

Next I had to convince my husband it would be easy. I love my husband, but he is no John from Young House Love. So I designed the stripes so that he would not have to paint next to the base or the ceiling, and not around the tops of any door moldings. There are about a billion coats of paint in this place and we learned from our living room that trim is so incredibly tough to get right because of all the bumps and bulges. I taped everything. Secret...a quilters ruler makes measuring and taping wall stripes so much easier. If you are considering this project, I would invest in one, waaaay more accurate than a measuring tape. And the easy part...check. So I put the man to work, see how happy he looks. Ladies, it's all about equipping.

I didn't stick around to watch...ie. keeping baby Sabbe's brain cells in tact. But this morning I work up, peeled the tape down, and smiled out our new jazzy hallway. I love how it turned out.

Much better don't you think? All for a roll of tape, a $5 gallon of paint, and 1 hours of my sweet husband's time (the taping took me about 2 hours). He told a nurse at the hospital today that he helped me paint the hallway last night. She replied "the hallway? that's not even a room." He said, "she's pregnant and she's an interior designer, I do what I'm told." The nurse told him she predicts he will have a long, happy marriage.

The last touches for the hallway will be a durable floor runner and a fun light fixture. And the Ansel Adams calender pages (which is a great/cheap art idea if you are looking) will definitely go when we get some cute photos of our little guy.

Note: I would not actually recommend horizontal stripes on old plaster walls to any of my clients. It definitely reveals every bulge and imperfection, which I knew going into it and was ok with. But I'm a little more particular with clients than I am my own house, which, to my husband great joy, I refer to as my test lab. All 700 sf of it.

After the Snow Comes the Sun

"Man this door is frozen solid" [knocks door violently after scraping]

[5 minutes later] "It would help if it were unlocked."

Is there anything more beautiful than a sunny day after a fresh snow?

Is there anything more fantastic than having your awesome husband dig your car out while you wait inside?

Holiday Recap

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles! We racked up some mileage this Christmas. But all the travel was so worth it to get to see so many friends and family. Friday I flew solo to Knoxville where I took a nap at my in-laws and then borrowed their car to drive to Nashville. Saturday my sweet friend Erin hosted Baby Sabbe's first shower. I got to spend time with so many dear high school and college friends.

It was the best 24 hour trip ever.

That night I drove back to Knoxville, slept, and awoke to the preparation for shower #2 thrown by Mama Sabbe Senior and her lady friends.

Again, it was great to see so many wonderful friends. Look how excited Mr. Sabbe was.

The next morning we headed to North Carolina to spend some time with my family. 

Mr. Sabbe's driving beverage. Do people drink this stuff outside of the South? Not my cup of tea.

While in town, we stopped to look at some cows.

played with some super cute cousins

 and someone got their very first Walmart haircut. It was so long. We thought about asking her to carve in a rat tail for our own amusement and photo op, but then we thought again and decided there might be someone with a fondness for the rat tail in store and decided to abort.

Thursday we headed back to K-town and for the next couple of days did a lot of this...

and this

under this

which this guy {also known as Project Mike} found for $100 at Home Depot, it was the best.

Then on Saturday we crowded around the Sabbe Family Christmas tree to open presents.

My brother-in-law outdid himself while confirming that someone actually reads what I post on Facebook.

The next morning at 5am we headed back to the airport. By 5 o'clock that night Boston looked like this.

Hope you had an wonderful holiday season! I have a long to-do list before my little guy gets here, should make for some good blogging. I am also slated to start two new projects this month. One commercial, one residential. I can't wait to see what the new year has in store!