Let me begin by saying that we live in a loft, and that we’re moving in the near future. Living in a giant open space with no walls and two babies isn't as problematic as you might think, but we’re feeling the need for a backyard with an energetic two year old running around. Real estate in the Bay Area is crazy, to say the least, so while we’re looking Charlie needs a space of her own.

Right now Charlie’s nursery shares a space with our office, and it’s a little cramped and gloomy. I’ve decided on a basic color pallet of navy and peach with grey and beige as neutrals, and a bird theme, inspired by a set of birds given to me by my father when I was a baby. I'm particularly fond of Charlie's mobile, and you can check out how I made it here. All of the furniture is from Ikea, and I would love to replace the rocker using something with a little more character and function.

Since there was no closet area, we hacked an Ikea bookcase that happened to be laying around (its a long story). We removed a shelf and added a rail to the underside of one of the remaining shelves to hang tiny little baby clothes from. I couldn't resist using this cute wallpaper to give the piece some interest, and now Charlie has a pretty place to keep her clothes. When she gets a little bigger we can always rearrange the shelves and turn it into a doll closet or a place to hang costumes.

Pulling this room together was fun, but also a little stressful. I've really enjoyed loft living, and I'm so glad that we did it, but I'm ready for a more traditional space... with doors.

Since my first pregnancy I’ve started using more organic and natural products,and I'm always willing to give a new company a try. Blueberries and Lace Organics produces high-end skincare products that are all natural, vegan, cruelty-free and handmade. I love that they are dedicated to making a quality product at affordable prices.

I’m totally hooked on deodorant creams, they are all natural pastes that use ingredients like baking soda and essential oils to help with body odor. I’ve tried a couple of companies and other than consistency and smell they all seem to work for me, and I’ve even converted my husband! Blueberries and Lace make both a women's and men's deodorant cream, the only difference being the essential oils used. The woman’s version has a pleasant lavender scent that reminds me of lavender short bread cookies.

The men’s version has cedarwood oil, and my husband says it smells like a log cabin is burning down, which means that he thinks it smells woodsy and smokey. I can confirm that it smells very manly. We both agree that this deodorant cream has the best consistency of any that we’ve tried, not too hard and not too greasy.

In addition, to the deodorant cream I could not resist trying their coffee scrub, and I’m so glad I did. It is a fantastic combination of coffee and peppermint, which is a great wake up in the morning. It also makes my face feel so soft and moisturized afterwards. If you do decide to try this product, and I highly recommend that you do, make sure that you stir it with a finger before applying it to your skin.

You should definitely check out the rest of their products, they also make some great stuff for baby’s, as well as some awesome looking masks that I can't wait to try.

After searching high and low for a mobile that fit in with my daughters bird nursery theme I gave up and decided to make my own. This is my favorite kind of DIY project, really simple and it looks great. As long as you can tie some knots and use scissors you can do it, and then when people ask you where you got it from you can say you made it and look very impressive.

Once I found these pretty bird ornaments, from Dot & Bo, the idea of a simple mobile just seemed right. I wanted the birds to be the focal point and appear to be flying, so I used fishing line to tie the birds to the brass hoop. I originally thought I would use an embroidery hoop as the main support for the birds to hang from but a quick look on Amazon and I found this beauty. A little gold cord and some fancy knots to suspend the hoop, and voila, a pretty bird mobile!

I like that these bird ornaments can be reused and repurposed through the years. and Charlie seemed to think they were pretty cool when I gave them a test drive. I’ll have more pictures of how I’m using this mobile in an upcoming post about Charlie’s temporary nursery.

If you’re looking for really cute organic and sustainable baby clothes and toys Finn + Emma is the place. All of their clothing has unique detailing, and the toys all have a beautiful handmade quality to them.

I couldn't resist the Penny 2 piece stroller toy set from their feather collection for my three month old. The bird is hand knit of organic cotton and stuffed with sheep wool, and the feather is made of untreated Indian hardwood and finished with beeswax.

If you want to check out more of Finn + Emma’s stuff you can do it here. They have some really cute pirate themed toys as well. Right now you can get 15% off all orders over $50 (and free shipping!) with this coupon code. 

If you’re looking for an easy and cheap way to make your own advent calendar then this post if for you! My husband and I spent a couple of hours this weekend creating this DIY advent calendar for our son. We used some doweling, decorative string and craft paper bags to create a simple grid calendar.

I wasn't sure when I started how I wanted to decorate the bags, but I decided not to go with a traditional design. I’ve been wanting to try my hand at some water color flower posies, and I thought that they would have a nice victorian christmas feel to them.

We decided to put a little toy car or truck in each bag, not that I’m against candy but the thought of starting my toddlers day by telling him he can only have one piece of candy sounds like a bad idea. Toddlers are fun...

This is a really simple calendar to create and you could easily customize it with different bags or envelopes and by using string or drift wood or even a hanger to suspend them. I chose the craft bags so that my toddler could have the pleasure of tearing them open, but keep in mind whatever it is that you want to put in your calendar. Both size and weight, whether you’re planning on small dye cast toys or mini bottles of whiskey, you’ll have to reinforce your structure accordingly.

I love having fresh flowers in the house. It is easily my favorite way of making myself feel better when I’m having a bad day. Usually I pick up something pretty from my grocery store or the farmers market, and sometimes I make my husband send me fancy bouquets...

I have used Bloom That to send flowers to people before, and today I received my first bouquet from them. I really like this company, they only offer a couple of bouquet options with the idea of using local fresh flowers. And the good news is that they offer delivery on the East Coast and to most of California.

I love the simple, curated arrangements and they come beautifully wrapped in burlap and tied with a ribbon. The stems are wrapped in a wet sponge to keep them fresh on their way to you, and they provide instructions on how to keep your flowers happy and plant food. I also love that during special times of the year they offer options other then flowers, like for Father’s Day when I sent my husband flowers in the form of Four Roses small batch bourbon.

The only issue I have had with this service is that if you want a specific bouquet it may not be available next day, if you need to send flowers on a particular date I would look in advance. So, if you’re looking to send someone (or yourself, no judgment) some beautiful flowers I highly recommend you check out Bloom That.

I meant to post this last week, but hosting a birthday party and Thanksgiving less then a week apart is already more then I can handle...
My baby turned two, and we celebrated by being crazy parents and blowing up over a hundred balloons. 

He's totally obsessed with balloons right now so we filled his room with them when he woke up in the morning. It was awesome.

This was a low-key family birthday party, but I still wanted some fun decorations to brighten up the house and make it seem really special. Balloons were a perfect solution, brightly colored and inexpensive they made for easy decorations. There are about a thousand ideas for decorating with balloons on Pinterest, all you really need is some tape or string. 
I made the centerpiece on the table by taping balloons of different sizes to a runner made of craft paper. Then I just layered more balloons in order to fill in the gaps and create an eye pleasing shape, easy peasy.

There is always so much stuff to be done when hosting something like a birthday party, so I like to delegate and leave the cake making to the professionals. This is the Momofuku Milk Bar Birthday cake, and it was totally worth shipping across the country. It was delicious and you can read more about how I ordered it in my Friday post.
I do like to make something special as a topper. Last year I made a pretty spectacular campfire out of fondant, complete with a flameless candle for effect. This year I used water balloons tied to bamboo skewers to create a balloon bouquet.

Add a really simple balloon banner made by tying different sized balloons together along a length of string, and some balloon bouquets that we made with the help of a helium tank we got from target, you can find it here, and you've got a party!

Now we just have to figure out how to get rid of all of the balloons...