Random Friday

1. Owen eats. 

     A Battle Royale has been going down at the Rumely house this week. Owen has been spoiled by Cheddar Bunnies and yogurt and has been refusing to eat anything that isn't sweet or salty. So we cut him off cold turkey and he has been putting up a fight every meal time by spitting out pretty much anything we feed him. He is done with baby food and refuses to eat any of it, but he doesn't seem to want to eat anything else either. Things have improved in the past few days little by little. He really likes eating whatever we eat (though sometimes he can't if it's too spicy or too difficult for him to eat). I have also found that he will at least try most anything if I put it on his baby fork and let him feed himself. He recently ate broccoli and tilapia with us at dinner the other night. And in the morning, instead of sweet fruity yogurt or oatmeal, I've fed him turkey sausage and scrambled egg. I still give him fruit as a snack, but nothing that is artificially sweetened. You hear that Dad? No more sneaking icecream to the kiddo! The picture below is of him eating lunch yesterday. Turkey meat in a whole wheat pita with tomato and mozzarella cheese.

 

2. Oprah's Book Club 2.0. 

     While searching for my next book to read, I came across an announcement for Oprah's new online interactive book club. (Look under your chair - "You get a book, and you get a book, and you get a book!") I was intrigued because Oprah has the ability to really influence people when it comes to reading and I thought her first pick, "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed, looked pretty interesting. I told my sister-in-law Leah about it last weekend and I think she might do it too. 
Here's a synopsis:

"A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again. At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she'd lost everything when her mother died. Her family scattered in their grief, her marriage was soon destroyed, and slowly her life spun out of control. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, Strayed made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker--indeed, she'd never gone backpacking before her first night on the trail. Her trek was little more than 'an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.' But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her."

     I've never been much for reading nonfiction and memoirs, but I think this looks interesting and I'm willing to give it a try. I haven't started reading yet, but I will hopefully get some time this weekend to read a little. 

3. My birthday.  

     I will be turning 27 on Monday. I can't believe that I'm on the downhill slope to 30. It feels like I just graduated college yesterday. Sometimes in my head, I still think I'm 22 or 24. And then I remember, oh yeah, I graduated from college, worked two jobs, got married, moved across the country, bought a car, had a baby, moved back across the country, bought a house... So I guess I've accomplished a bit in the last five years. We'll see what happens in this coming year. 
     We don't really have plans so far for celebrating my birthday, but I'm hoping that maybe we can come up with something fun to do. We celebrated my birthday with my parents last weekend while they were in town. It was so much fun just hanging out with them, relaxing on the back porch, talking, laughing, drinking some local Kentucky wine, and playing Kinect. My parents were both good sports and gave it a try. It was awesome. Anyway, this weekend, I'm thinking it might be fun to make a day trip to Lexington or even Louisville. We'll see...

4. Photo challenge.  

     Alright, I confess. I haven't been really committed to the daily photo challenge from Stylized Portraiture. I have done a few, but some haven't really appealed to me. "Self-portrait"...please. I'm not a fifteen year old taking pictures for my Facebook profile. But, I will say that it has gotten me to pick up my camera a little more often and that's how I've gotten some super cute pictures of my little man.

5. Housewarming gift.  

     We recently got a set of adirondack chairs from my inlaws as a housewarming gift. They look so pretty out in our backyard in our little sitting area off the back deck. Now that we have a yard bigger than a postage stamp for the first time, we spend so much time outside relaxing and playing. We also eat outside on the back deck a lot. It's so nice just to sit and read in those chairs or watch Owen play with his water table. We love them! And as of a couple days ago, we got another surprise in the mail from them - a miniature adirondack chair just for Owen. It's so cute. 

6. Cabinets! 

     We're done! We're done! We're finally done! Cue happy dance. We finished hanging all the cabinets on Wednesday night and we have started putting away all our dishes and pots and pans. The cabinets look so good. (A how-to blog post with our step-by-steps and a cost breakdown is forthcoming). I keep finding reasons to go into the kitchen just so I can look at them. Of course there are still a lot of things we need to do in the kitchen like repaint the walls and replace the ceiling fan with a light fixture, but for now we feel very accomplished and we're really happy with our results. Here's a sneak peek!

7. Decoration inspiration.  

     I love reading decorating magazines and finding ideas for decorating our house. Unfortunately, it normally ends there and I forget about the things I see in the magazines. I have been toying with the idea of a home inspiration notebook after my sister-in-law Leah mentioned making one on her blog. After considering several different ways of doing it, I settled on making one of my own using a sketchbook with blank white pages (the perfect backdrop). I didn't want colors or lines distracting from the pictures. I also made tabs to divide the book by room using paint swatches that I picked up at Lowe's. Now when I see something I like in a magazine or a pretty paint swatch, I can glue it into the notebook and keep track of it there until it's time to work on that room.

8. Umba Box reveal.  

     My mom got her first Umba box last month for her Mother's Day gift and will get her second this month for her birthday. (She'll get a third in July just because she's a great mom).     Her first box came with a set of handmade thank you cards and a peach-scented candle. 
     The cards are from El y Ella Paper Designs. You can see her stuff at http://etsy.me/elyellapaperdesigns. The candle was made by Evoluxe. You can see her candles at http://bit.ly/evoluxe. I was really happy with what my mom received. They might not be what I would have picked out myself, but I think she is really enjoying receiving a surprise in the mail each month. If you're interested in trying out Umba Box, use the code SWEETSUMMER for 20 percent off your first box.