New Years, a little late

I have been thinking about life a lot these days- being pregnant can do that to you! I never make New Years Resolutions, they often seem kinda silly, it's almost like people create goals that are meant to be broken and abandoned. However, I think that this year I need some resolutions- resolutions I will, and I need to keep.

1. Grocery shop- with a list! 

Ok I know this sounds silly, but my mother and my sister raised me to be very frugal when it comes to food- however I never followed their rules and guidelines once I moved out. I am terrible, I never use coupons, I go to the grocery store hungry, and I go without a list on a regular basis. My hubby and I are at the grocery store  almost four days a week- because of our horrible shopping habits we spend way too much money on food. We need to fix this, we have to get better at planning our meals, eating at home, grocery shopping, and bringing our lunches to work/school.

2. I will spend less time worrying about what I'm not getting done.

I over book my life, but really don't we all? I spend so much time beating myself up about the things I haven't gotten done, and the things I have left to do. It makes me miserable, and I am going to work on stopping, or at least cutting back!

3. Be more organized/ clean.

This is probably a super common resolution- but I have to add it to my list. I know I will spend less time cleaning, if I was better at having a place for everything and actually putting it there when I was done with it.

4. Start my Etsy.

I have been talking, and talking, and talking about starting an Etsy (or a website), and I'm going to stop putting it off, and stop giving myself reasons I can't do it.

5. Let myself be more creative.

Last, but not least- I will get out of my own way and let myself be more creative. I will stop giving myself reasons I can't accomplish/ make the things I want to. I will push myself more.  

Thank you for reading my resolutions, what are your resolutions for 2011?

Snow

These pictures are of the first snow of the year (back December 16th). I had to drive to school for a final, and I was a little miffed to have to do it in the snow, but I was really excited that it was snowing. I wish we had gotten a good snow during break, but alas, I start back to school tomorrow and we have gotten a few teaser snows- like the one from the pictures- but no real snows. 

Baby Stuff

It's crazy how much baby stuff I have so far! Yesterday, to try to motivate myself, I took everything out and spread it out on the couch. This is just the stuff I have at home, my mom and sisters have been buying stuff and keeping it at their house till I'm ready for it, which I cannot thank them enough for. As you can tell by the color scheme, we aren't sure yet if it's a boy or a girl, but hopefully we will know in the next couple of weeks. l  I have a lot of cleaning, purging, organizing, and redecorating to go before the baby gets here, and I'm trying to get most of it done before I go back to school in 12 days- YIKES winter break is too short!

Baking

My Hubby and I, between the two of us, have a very large family; so for the past three years we decided to give baked goods instead of "things" for Christmas presents. This year everyone got their own little bag (instead of larger boxes for couples / families) so no one had to share :) Each bag contained chocolate, pecan, and almond fudge, cookies and cream fudge, and little cocoon cookies. 

We also celebrate Christmas at three different houses, and this year we decided it would be nice to bring a dessert to each house! This is my grandmothers pound cake- it is the first time we managed to bake it correctly. We took it as an after breakfast snack at my mother in law's house. 

  I forgot to take a picture before we started to eat, but this is the Oreo crust, pudding pie, that my hubby made for our lunch dessert at my mom's house. (The crust was store bought, but the pudding was home made and really yummy)

Lastly, this is the white chocolate, hazelnut, pumpkin cheesecake I made for the dinner dessert at my hubby's father's family's Christmas dinner. It was a new recipe and delicious! It was fun to do all the baking, and I enjoyed spending the time with my husband, but I may not bake anything till next Christmas! 

Christmas Cheer

I love Christmas. It's taken awhile for me to love it- its hard to love the holiday when you were born the day before. I probably didn't appreciate the holiday until I moved out of my parents house. My mom is a Christmas nut, she starts playing Christmas music the moment Thanksgiving dinner is cleared from the table, she covers the house in decorations, and she loves buying presents. 

When I moved out I realized that life wasn't the same, and that if I wanted Christmas cheer in my home, that I would have to make it. This is my tree this year- its just a baby tree, but I was too worn out for much more. (This tree took me a good hour to decorate as it is! ). My hubby and I put up lights too! Those pictures will be coming soon (we ran out of lights, so we aren't really done yet). In addition to this, I am listening to a Christmas station on Pandora while I write my last two papers of the semester. Wish me luck I have two papers, two presentations, two exams, and two weeks left till I am off for break!   

More Ramblings on Fashion

So despite being a Fashion Merchandising major, and despite making my own clothing, I pay very little attention to mainstream fashion and runway shows. What the designers are doing never has much interest to me. However, I am truly in love with the work of Alexander McQueen (may he rest in peace) and John Galliano . While pursing the internet, doing research for a homework assignment, I stumbled across a collection I hadn't looked at in a "long" time, and I forgot how amazing it is. These photos are from John Galliano's collection for Christian Dior, spring 2007. I only hope that one day I have have a quarter of the talent that he has. 

The photo on the bottom left is the man himself at the show, and the dress on the bottom right I think is my Favorite, either that one or the one above it, I can't decide! These photos came from style, and if you click on the link you can see the rest of the show.  

A funny kind of Mood

I've been in a funny mood as of late. . .I have about a million ideas of things I want to make, but since I have no time to make things, the ideas kind of slip away. I have to say it's making me nuts. I haven't been sure these last couple of months where I want my "style" to go, I have a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear! or at least nothing I want to wear, Do you guys ever go through this? and now that I am expanding, nothing fits right either. This morning I was looking at Modcloth and felt really inspired.

I'm really loving maxi dresses right now, normally I obsess over them during the summer, so I have to start thinking about what shoes work best with them in the winter! any tips? The dress on the left  is really appealing because of the vertical panels and the neat bust details. I love the lace on the dress on the right, it has such beautiful drape to it. I work a lot in cotton, but I really want to expand, or go back to, working with different fabrics, and challenging myself more.  

More beautiful dresses: the Young Composer Dress (I love the sheer sleeves), and the City of Emeralds Dress, which looks like a mermaid to me. 

Knits are something I haven't really messed with in a long time, but right now I am loving leggings and tunic tops, and knit tunic tops are even better, and I love pairing long sweaters with my dresses- but I don't have enough long sweaters either. You can check out these sweaters here. 

Before I end this post, I want to show you this beauty! It's way out of my very limited budget right now, but I can't help but dream. It's the From Babylon Dress, I love everything about it, I love the print, and how they worked it so the sleeves are pink, I love the puff of the skirt, and I love the pockets. I wish I could find fabric as cool as this. 

By the way, I am in no way associated with Modcloth, I just like there clothes :)