Home Feature in KC Magazine

I'm not sure why I feel so sheepish about sharing this. I've been saying for years that one of the items on my bucket list is to have my home published. And, well, I'm excited to say that I actually get to check this one off the list! If you're new to Because It's Awesome, the article, written by Kelsey Cipolla, will give you some background on myself and my design philosophy. And if you've been around for awhile, you finally get a peek into my home.

photo by Jennifer Wetzel for KC Magazine

I'm so honored to be featured in this month's fall fashion issue of KC Magazine. Look! I even did my hair.

photo by Jennifer Wetzel for KC Magazine

I haven't been able to track down a physical copy just yet, but the digital version is available here. I share a spread with local sweethearts Melanie of Style Scout and Kat of GoBlogSocial, and that is a pretty big compliment. You can find the full feature on page 92 of the digital version.

 photo by Jennifer Wetzel for KC Magazine

Huge thanks to the fine folks at KC Magazine for tapping me. It's such a thrill! (Click through to see more of my home.)

Not-So-Distant Memories

from a trip i took many moons ago...looking back fondly. i was a different person when i returned from this place. maybe it's time for another trip overseas? or, hell, just a trip would do.

hope your weekend takes you to amazing places!

-  o x o x  -

This and That // 1

hello! happy monday. i hope you all had a wonderful weekend. eric and i took full advantage of the b-e-a-utiful weather in kansas city by lounging around, drinking adult beverages and soaking up the sun.

just kidding. but we did take advantage.

eric cut down a giant (dead) pine tree in the backyard.

sad that we lost it.

but pretty baller that he took care of that himself and saved us some serious monies!

then we admired the ones that are still alive.

i gave some closet doors a seriously delicious makeover.

(more on that in wednesday's ORC post)

 we did some sleeping in.

 monkey butt!!!!

and then i did my best to get caught up on inventory.

holy brass attack.

guys, relax. i sell it, i don't keep it all.

we celebrated our accomplishments and some fun news!

(that i get to share very very soon!!)

yesterday we assessed our mint crop.

can you say MOJITO?

pretty sure you wouldn't be able to if you put all of that to good use.

especially in a few weeks when it's fully grown.

i pondered what to do with the last bare wall in our formal.

there will probably be brass.

 and we celebrated Easter with the fam.

in bunny ears and polka dots. dah.

so it was a full one.

today, i'm over at classically b talking about 4 of my favorite things.

think spring. because that's pretty much all i'm thinking about these days.

also, there's this to start your week:

truth.

kid president is wise.

-  o x o x  -

Month of Awesome // Nov 1-3

Several years ago after going through a rough break-up, I started a gratitude journal where I noted something to be thankful for each day. Could be meaningful, could be arbitrary. Didn't matter. It was just an excuse to see the positive. (It lasted maaaaaaaybe one week.)

I celebrate my 33rd birthday this week and with Thanksgiving approaching for us Americans, I think it's just the right time to start this up again. There is so much to be grateful for, even in our most trying times. I'll be doing this via Instagram and Facebook with recaps here each week (this will keep me accountable). I invite each of you to do the same if you so wish. Use #monthofawesome if you decide to play. I'd love to follow along!

Nov 1 // Thankful for these two that I'm blessed to share my everyday with.

Nov 2 // Visited the local Arboretum and Botanical Gardens with my brother and his family on Saturday. It was my first time and, though we missed the blooming season, there was still plenty of art to entertain us while we spent time out in the crisp fall air. I'll be making a habit of visiting next year for sure!

Nov 3 // Eric and I had a lot of housework to take care of today. (Not so easy with an infant.) I got a text at one point that I needed to go upstairs and check out the backyard...where I found a very sweet message waiting for me. He's ridic :)

Care to join me? #monthofawesome

House Updates // Family Room Inspiration

The current state of our family room (brace yourself!):

Embarrassinggggggggggggg!!!!!! (Except the adorable bebes hidden amongst the clutter.)

She's finally getting a makeover!! Outside of the glorious rug (bona fide Persian addict here), this room has become the catchall for items we brought with us from our loft almost two years ago. While several of these pieces will stay, I've been waiting and waiting (and waiting) to find a sectional that I can stand to look at for a price I can stomach. I like that a sectional will streamline the appearance of the room and add lounging capacity for more than two people. Though I'm pretty frugal in the first place, I just can't see investing a lot of money in a piece of furniture when we're a young family with fur babies. So, naturally, I scour Craigslist and consignment for inexpensive options. Lucky for me, this baby popped up:

(seller's space)

She's purty, right? And an absolute steal. (Coincidentally, she's also on sale at Macy's with great reviews.) And I don't have to have her reupholstered (read: too many options for me to make a decision)! It's a little more modern than what I hoped to find, but it's in pristine condition and I think I can temper the modern enough with other elements in the room. Picking her up tonight and then we can finally get the "orphan" room together. This room opens up to our dining room, so I'm in hopes that it will help me finally make some calls for both spaces. Hallelujah!

Some of my inspiration for the family room:

images mostly from Lonny, Rue, and Apartment Therapy

I know I'm all over the place. Can't be helped. Somehow, my inspiration always comes together in the end (at least, that's what my friends always told me in design school). If I can muster the time/energy, I'll put together some inspiration boards to make ask you to evaluate. And, for the love, someone find me a reasonably priced burlwood console so I can put the obsession to rest. Pleaseandthankyou.

Loving Lately // Caitlin Wilson Textiles

Ava at 8 weeks

Happy Monday! Everyone ready for a new week? To be honest, maternity leave has the days blending together a little bit and I can't say that I mind. Things have just continued to get better and better since about week five (not gonna lie - it was pretty rocky until that point!). At nine weeks with our little Ava, I don't know that I'd say we've established a routine per say, but we're certainly starting to figure each other out and that's -- well, pretty awesome.

I've learned to embrace the fact that life right now is all about Ava. Before she arrived, I had a mile long list of things I wanted to accomplish in the six months of leave I've been blessed with. I think those first several weeks were difficult for a number of reasons, but they were especially hard for a chronic overachiever and workaholic. While I still have a fair amount of goals and obligations at any given time, I'm making sure to soak up hours of simply holding ze babe while she sleeps (listening to her precious sounds and watching her little eyelashes flutter makes this preeeeeeeetty easy), going on long afternoon walks together, reading stories, and lying around under brightly colored plush toys while describing them over and over again ("Is the elephant blue? There are one...two...three ladybugs. Can you say 'brass'?). Finding balance has and, I'm sure, will continue to be tough. But I don't get these months back, so I'm doing my best to remain focused on this little person as much as possible. Giving myself permission to just BE has been incredibly liberating.

with Ava at 8 weeks

Being home has also given me a chance to actually make some progress on the house, which I'm doubly grateful for. I'm one of those people that will probably never be done (what fun would that be??), but I'm hoping to have at least our main floor presentable by the time I'm back to work in February.

It's sort of hilarious that the nursery is one of the more finished spaces after nearly two years in the house. Can you say deadline driven? ha! I recently secured the finishing touch to Ava's room; I'm working with Caitlin Wilson Textiles on a beautiful collaboration (so, again, nursery pics are definitely coming!). When we started our talks, I couldn't help but fall in love with their fall line of metallic fabrics and pillows. I think all of my fellow gold/brass addicts will have to agree on this one! They have a beautiful lookbook that makes the new line especially lust worthy.

images via Caitlin Wilson Textiles

Shop the fall collection here.

Happy Monday!

House Updates // Ava's closet + The Home Depot

Hey hey hey! I had to stop in today to let you kids know that Ava's closet is up on The Home Depot's blog. I would love for you to check out the before and after. It's quite the transformation.

Promise I'm going to show you the full room eventually. I'm just working on one last detail. In the interest of not holding out completely, here's one of my favorite parts, courtesy of super-talent Jenny.

Ava and I both get great joy out of those beauties when she's getting a fresh dipe.

Now kindly go check out her closet. Because I did a lot of work bossing Eric around to make it happen and that has to be for something :)

She's here! { Ava's birth story }

Four days old. Quite possibly the most wonderful Monday morning of my life waking up to this!

You've probably guessed by now that our little bundle finally arrived! Ava (or "Bean" as we affectionately call her since she looks just like one when all swaddled up) joined us Friday, August 16th at 8:17am safe and sound and perfect in every way. Words can't express the overwhelming love in my heart for this little being. I always suspected that parenthood felt something like this, but you just truly can't imagine it until it's real. Although the last couple of weeks have been challenging in many ways, I already understand what an amazing life-altering decision we made when we said it was time to grow our family.

 With Daddy on a lazy morning during our first week of life.

For those of you interested, Ava's (somewhat wordy) birth story:

First let me say that I could write an entire post on my frustration in the last couple weeks of pregnancy. I was definitely blessed with a smooth experience overall (except for heartburn and the inability to sleep, like, ever), but I truly believed that I would go early (yes, I know most first time moms go late) and I was deathly afraid of being induced. There were literally tears the day we scheduled our induction. I wanted everything to happen as naturally as possible, and in my head -- whether warranted or not -- induction made things ripe for complication. Fear is an obnoxiously powerful emotion.

I could easily dedicate another post to all of the wives tales on natural induction. Jokes, people. Jokes. Baby comes when and only when baby is ready. Period. Thursday night I went on my thousandth loooooooooong walk with a very supportive friend, I cleaned bathrooms, ate pineapple and I cussed like a stranded sailor. I think Eric was convinced our baby would come out yelling four letter words.

Per usual, I went to bed unhappy and ungrateful. Surrious attitude problem given the blessings of a healthy baby on the way and three thousand months of mild pregnancy. That was around 11:15pm.

A few minutes after midnight, that was me you heard yelling, "My water just broke!" as I shot straight up in bed. Naturally, I decided to take a leisurely shower while Eric called our doctor, who was on call as luck would have it. Then we thought it best to finally pack our bags (What week do they tell you to do that? 32?), grabbed some snacks for me to inhale since you're only allowed ice chips during labor and headed to the hospital. I couldn't really feel any contractions for the first 20 minutes after my water broke. Once they started, though relatively mild, they were only 1.5-2 minutes apart. To my delight dismay, within an hour they were more or less right on top of each other and were a teeeeeeny bit more than mild (sarcasm). By the time my mom arrived two hours later, Eric met her at the door with, "Don't try to talk to her and definitely don't touch her."

Quite the bundle of fun, this girl.

My intentions for a natural labor were fading fast. I'd been 3cm dilated at my doctor's appointment two days prior and was now only at 4cm three and a half unfriendly hours into the big event. My body had little to no opportunity to relax with the contractions being so close together and I was exhausted. Not to mention a bit hangry. Unfortunately, you just can't know what to plan for when it comes to pregnancy and labor. That part of the whole process made me crazy...not to mention crazy nervous. Would the discomfort get even more intense? Could I make it another three hours? Four? Seven? Twelve??? I decided no. Cue anesthesiologist....who arrived another 30 minutes later. By this point, I'm thinking of all the strong women that endured natural labor (specifically my own mom, who labored with me for 21 hours!) and feeling extreme guilt for not being strong enough to tough it out.

Pretty sure those delivery room nurses take bets on how long people will last.

It was a huge relief for Eric when I opted for the epi. He was so extremely supportive of my intention to go natural, but I know it hurt him to see me uncomfortable. Plus, you know, hangry women in pain are no joke.

Twenty minutes after the epi was administered, I could barely tell when I was contracting. The pain literally disappeared. I could relax!!! And you know what? The nurse checked an hour later and I was fully dilated. That's all it took. (Not that I'm advocating for or against natural birth. All of our bodies are different!) My dad arrived shortly after and we all just waited for little Ava Bean to make her way down on her own. It was really a special morning having my husband and my parents in the room, talking and joking, watching the sun come up, and anticipating the arrival of the most beautiful human I've ever laid eyes on. By 7:45am the doctor declared that we were ready to start pushing, which I did like a CHAMP because I was so ready to meet our baby. Thirty short minutes later, Eric declared that it was a girl and she was in my arms (and already feeding!! Hooray!!).

I'm sobbing while I type this, remembering the emotions as we saw her for the first time. Her perfect little round face, tired eyes, head of hair (holy hair! The heartburn wives tale might be true). I pray that the memory of that moment will never, ever fade.

A typical mid-afternoon around here. There's a rule about mommies sleeping when babies sleep, you know!

I'm still working hard to figure this whole parenting thing out, so posts may be spotty for the next few weeks, but I am eager to get back to it. For those of you that are new to BIA, welcome! Promise to try to keep the baby talk and photos to a minimum. (Though I can't promise the same for IG and Facebook followers. Those baby photo forces are hard to resist!)

Now off to change my millionth diaper.... ox

Monday Blues // 46

Lauren Santo Domingo's office, designed by Daniel Romualdez via Architectural Digest

Most of us have probably seen this image already. Being that I just got my issue of AD, I finally got to devour it in all of its glossy glory and I'm dying. Love the mix of pattern, the pink on the walls with those black door frames, the bold simplicity of those prints, the grounding stripes. And then there's the burl wood tables that make my heart explode into a thousand tiny pieces. Too good.

I have been going back and forth between a gray with lavender undertones and a peachy coral for my office at home, and this really makes me lean towards the coral.

Please note that I will NOT be painting said office anytime soon. The will to paint has expired completely. Over it. We slaved over the entry/stairs/second floor hallway this weekend and I don't think either of us (or my mom, who is both a saint and a crazy person because she loves to trim) would care to see a paint brush for some time. I am very very happy with the results from both floors, but the staircase leaves a bit to be desired. I'll take care of that once I can stomach the idea of painting again, but here's a peek at the results so far:

To quote my husband: "I think we have moved past Johnson County beige."

Sassy, right?? Now to get some art on those walls.

LOVE our new Ballard fixture in the entry, too!

Also, if I disappear this week, it's because my dreams came true and I had this baby early.

Mama's ready.