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Oh. My. Gah. – Stilleben Highchair

Is this not the most beautiful high chair you have ever seen in you life?

stilleben highchair

When I saw it, I was sure it would cost a million dollars.
When it turned out that it doesn’t cost a million dollars, I was sure that they would not ship to the US.
When it turned out that they did ship to the US, I was sure it would cost a million dollars.

I was wrong.

There is not a lot of product information on their site but we fell in love instantly.

And sometimes when you fall in love, you do stupid things.

We bought this beautiful sexy highchair.

Even if we don’t know where it will go, or exactly how big it is, or how long it will be until we use it, or if it will arrive in one piece.

But despite all that, we are in love. And we just bought the most beautiful highchair we have ever seen in our lives.

Europeans just do baby stuff 500% better than we do.
Stilleben Towerchair

Making It Work

So, in case you were wondering….because some people have been…we intend to stay in this teeny tiny house even after the baby comes. That’s right, 500-some-square-feet, 2 adults, a dog, a baby and no dining room.




See, the thing is, we love it here. Tiny as it may be, our house is adorable. We have a vegetable garden and a yard and we can walk to the beach. Aside from its size, it’s the perfect place for a kid. And the truth is we love this neighborhood but we could never afford a bigger place here in Santa Monica. And having your own mini house beats living in an apartment.

When we found out we were expecting, it was one of the first conversations we had. Because, if we decided to move, it would be one more thing on our plate, and we decided to cross it off the list early. We are crafty and clean and we have made this tiny house work for us these last two years and we decided we can make it work for potentially two more, if not one more.

I’ve been doing some research on space saving baby goods and taking cues from Manhattan moms who have babies in 300 sq ft studios and turn closets into nurseries.

Currently our small second bedroom functions as an office and a closet. Because our house is so old, closet space is limited, so we built a free-standing gas pipe closet for me in the space. And because John is freelance and occasionally works from home, the office space is crucial. We currently have a long desk against one wall, that could accommodate John having two monitors (for editing) and me working beside him. But my own desk space isn’t necessary so we will downsize.

The Bloom Alma Mini Crib is a life saver for small spaces. Measuring at just 32 3/4” H x 37 1/4” W x 19 1/2” D its seriously tiny. And perfectly for us it fits exactly in the space along side mama’s closet along with a dresser turned changing table. Another bonus of the Alma mini is that it comes on wheels and is narrow enough to fit through doorways. So in the first few months while I am nursing, the crib will stay in our room, but later it can live in the new “office/closet/nursery”.

I’m actually pretty excited about staying here and starting our family here. This house represents a lot of good change for us and its really been a great home, so I am happy to have it continue and to build even more memories here. And although our child may not remember the place, I know there will be photographs and many a happy summer day spent picking strawberries from the garden and chasing the dog in the yard.

So to all our friends trying to get in line for the lease….back off suckers! We are making it work.

Pizza Party

A few weeks ago we had our dear friends Adam & Emily over for a little bbq of sorts.

We started the afternoon off with a fresh baked loaf of bread cooked in a dutch oven inside the bbq (made my super impressive husband guy). We ate it hot with butter and my fathers home-made jalepeño strawberry jelly while chatting in the kitchen.

For dinner we made…well..before you watch this and say “thats…..not…a pizza”, let me just say that it’s a recreation of a folded style pizza “thing” that we like from a restaurant back home. John made the dough from scratch and marinated the tomatoes and mozzarella overnight. We cooked four of them, but cut up each one and shared it as it came off the grill.

Nothing like good food and good friends to make for a perfect Summer afternoon.

Peanut’s new dog bed

Just got this adorable small floor cushion for Peeps. Thanks to Dog-Milk for the heads up on a similar Land of Nod floor cushion! These cushions are intended for children, but if you ask me (and Dog-Milk) they are perfect for pups! I've had my eye out for a new/simple affordable bed for her. This gingham pattern was on sale for $13.95 (for the small 22" size) and comes in three colors. Plus I love a classic gingham print. Perfect.

Old Brand New- Sunday’s with Beatrice

I recently discovered the blog Old Brand New and his sometimes posts of his chihuahua mix dog Beatrice. Obviously, I loved them, because I love dogs and happen to be partial to chihuahua mixes because they remind me of an adorable little someone.


I was really moved by this one



So simple but something about it really spoke to me and reminded me of Peeps. I’m so happy to have her in our lives. It’s crazy it’s been almost a year now (will be a year almost one month from today, since we got her on my birthday June6th). She has come such a long way in the last year. We are still working with her daily, but she’s made an incredible turn around since her rescue.


She’s become a lot more trusting of strangers. She’s not one to approach a stranger with a wagging tail and a wet kiss, but shes moved from fear and barking, potential nipping, to indifference, or being slightly unsure. When we have guests over she tends to bark as they first enter but suddenly remembers them, or is willing to be-friend them. Sitting on laps and snuggling within the first hour of their arrival.


She can be left home alone for a full day on the occasion that John and I are both working outside of the home. Without going into a full on panic, or exhibiting sever signs of anxiety. Yes, she is still upset when we leave but I feel good knowing that she will settle down shortly after we leave and sleep the day away.


She can ALMOST be trusted off leash in the back yard with supervision, even though our yard has no back fence. Although, she has broken that trust a few time and we are still working on it. But it’s world away from where she was, when I wouldn’t even consider dropping the leash for even a second in the backyard, for fear of a stranger walking by or a skateboard or a dog or whatever else might set her off.
Anyway, long story short, I love our dog. She is so amazing and smart and a real sweetheart. She really completes our family and I cant imagine life without her.
This picture evokes all of those feelings of love for me.

Poppin

Have you guys heard of Poppin? It’s pretty much the coolest office supply place around. If you have an ounce of O.C.D or neat freak in you, you will love this place. The thing I love the most, is that you can shop by color! So fun! We recently ordered some stuff for our office (in white, a little less fun) and we are pretty pleased with it. Also when you place an order you can see how additionally cute their packaging is. The only thing I am bummed about is that not all products are available in all colors. The site is still called Poppin “beta” so I’m hoping that the product lines will expand once they gauge the success of the site.


I figured that since there is likely a lot of the spring cleaning bug going around right now, some of you might want to check it out. Oh and did I mention that their prices are super affordable? I swear this isn’t a paid advertisement, haha I am just THAT excited about color co-ordinated office supplies! haha.

Unfortunate Realization




Every house is a work in progress, and our house is still fairly new (in the large scheme of things) so I’m still constantly evaluating it. Recently, I came to an unfortunate realization. The reason I am unhappy with the current state of our living room is that its full of dark furniture. I got the worlds smallest living room and then filled it with dark heavy furniture! I also feel that because we live so close to the ocean things should be light and airy.The thing is, its not like I went out and purchased heavy dark furniture for the space. We are not in a position to buy all new furniture for a space, especially a rental space. We brought with us what we had and re-worked it in the new space. And it’s not that i dislike the furniture, I just wish I could will it to be another color…like…white. haha.











Should I get crazy and re finish stuff? Get over it and live with it? Slowly replace things? I don’t know, but at least now I know what the “problem” is. ha.

blurg.

Crafty Sunday

I wanted to share a little DIY project I did today. A little clustering of chalkboard painted clipboards for the kitchen.



John has been baking a lot of bread lately, but he hasn’t quite memorized the measurements yet. He wanted to have easy access to it and he suggested that we paint the wall next to the oven with chalkboard paint. I thought that was a really cute idea but decided to tweak it a little bit. I like the multi use of the clipboards and I also like the mixing of materials. It’s a fun new addition to the kitchen.





For those of you that are interested in trying it yourself, it couldn’t be easier. We already had the two larger clipboards, but we wanted to vary the scale a bit for interest, so John picked up the 3 smaller ones at an office supply store. Most places carry a chalkboard paint these days since they are so popular, I picked this one up at Sherwin Williams and I was happy that it came in a small size (about a pt) since we didn’t need all that much. There’s no prepping involved. I didn’t remove the metal clips or anything. I would recommend keeping your paint strokes uniform, i.e, keep all your strokes horizontal so it looks smooth and even. When you get to the area under the clip, simply pinch the clip open and paint under the area. Don’t worry if you get paint on the metal, if you catch it while its still wet, it will wipe off real easy with a paper towel. Go ahead and close the clip, it should open up real easy once its dry (so long as your paint isn’t too thick. The paint dries really quickly, so go ahead and do two coats so that they look nice and black. Then, hang them however you like and get cookin’!