House Hunters

House hunting is so much fun...for the past 6 years I've missed it!!! But I also forgot how incredibly exhausting it becomes...especially for someone like me who checks CL every hour to make sure I don't miss anything! My list of sites to check 80x daily is a page long!

And then you have a ray of hope, one that makes up for all the searching, driving, scoping, calling...today we found THE perfect perfect perfect rental. 

SO perfect (did I mention how perfect?) 

Location: a half block from the yoga shala...the YOGA SHALA! Can you picture it?! A couple blocks from the loveliest park in Spokane, within walking distance to our favorite bakery and great restaurants. A few blocks from a friend of mine who has a babe the same age as Hudson. And TERRIFIC school district!

And the house...oh, the house. Hardwood floors throughout, gorgeous fireplace, new kitchen, brand new appliances, an upstairs loft that looks exactly like the set of Moonrise Kingdom-perfect for Hudson's playroom, an art-deco-tiled bathroom, and a man cave with new carpet in the fully finished basement. I'm talkin GOR-GEOUS. 

Anddd....we are too late. We missed it by ONE day. Apparently someone turned in an application for it TODAY. I have been sick ever since. Like I'm pretty sure I could vomit, sinking feeling, exhausted sick.

So I did what any recently devastated emotional eater would do and made a batch of frosted brownies, bought myself a bouquet of orange tulips...and blogged about my sob story.

Here's hoping the applicant suddenly backs out or doesn't meet the qualifications. My fingers have never been more crossed!

My Little Muse

What did I EVER take pictures of before becoming a mama? Seriously.

Whatever it was, wasn't as fun as this...

Music to Love By

I should probably definitely add "music" to the list of descriptive words for this completely sporadic blog of mine. 

In fact, it ought to be second after "bebe". Or tied with "poetry" and "etc"...

I also ought to remove "travel" from the list until we do any...hard to do nowadays with kiddos that require pack n'plays, car seats, jogging strollers, lullaby machines, 3 blankies, etc.

Anyways...onto my latest music obsession...jazzy-love songs. And not just love songs...JAZZY LOVE songs. Croon-y, sugary, sweet, let's love each other as if we loved each other, romance songs. Blame it on Valentine's day...fuzzy&warm love songs fill the remaining winter months so nicely after all the buttery&nostalgic Christmas music. 

I've basically had Sondre Lerche's Duper Sessions on repeat 24/7 since New Years. 

A few of my fave light-the-candles-slow-dance-X's&O's-hearts-everywhere-tracks to love by...

Chet Baker . I Get Along Without You Very Well

Sondre Lerche . You Sure Look Swell

Melody Gardot . If the Stars Were Mine

Madeleine Peyroux . Dance Me to the End of Love

Nat King Cole . I'm In the Mood for Love

Billie Holiday . Night and Day

Dinah Shore . Stardust

 Al Bowlly . It's All Forgotten Now



What are you listening to post-Christmas?

A Year from Now

 I know, everyone and their dog have pinned this, but I love it nonetheless. 

Food for thought...and I've been thinkin of it on the daily.

What do you wish you'd started a year ago?  

If that list is a mile long-and full of lots of silly things like, 'read all the classics' & 'learn everything there is to know about jazz and orchids', like mine, it may be better to ask what you would do if you had only one year left? 

Just one.

   When my dad found out he had only 6 weeks left of life, priorities shifted and made themselves painfully clear, as I suppose they would to any of us. That day he was forced, along with the rest of his family for a while, to focus on the absolute essentials.

For my dad, relationships with the people he loved suddenly became vital. This man, who was not present on my wedding day, began calling me once or twice daily to tell me how much he loved me, to call me "gorgeous", to tell me how proud I made him. Apologizing for past hurts and giving his heart completely to those he hadn't for so long became a must. 'I'll do it later' wasn't an option anymore; there was no longer a later. 

In those few weeks he started, and in many ways completed, so many of the really important things he'd been meaning to get around to for years but was too afraid to start.

I think of my dad when I read the quote above and I'd write this so much better for his sake if I could.

So...what's on your "tomorrow list" and what's still there after you boil it down?

My essentials? Here's a couple...

Change location. Getting out of this neighborhood has been high on my list of to-do's for abouuuuut 6 years now (from the day we moved in). I need safe. I need walkable. I need community. I have none of that presently, and I honestly feel like a prisoner in my home. In the last month there was a gang related drive-by and a man was stabbed 18 times walking to Walgreens only blocks from my home. We are making this change THIS YEAR; our health and happiness depend on it.

Live fully in the moment. I feel like my days are disappearing at the speed of light because I am always worried about what's next. I fail to appreciate the present moment with my son...rocking him to sleep, smelling his hair, holding his hand, cradling him in my arms...being 100% present in that moment because I'm always worrying about what's coming. What should I cook for lunch? What activity should we do after lunch? What time should he nap? What should we do after nap? etc...

I also need to eliminate the words SUPPOSED TO from my vocab...especially when it comes to mothering. When it comes to Hudson I find that I am constantly asking: is this what we're supposed to do? I'm a girl who wants black and white and an owners manual and performance evaluations...but this is absurd!

I need to stop worrying about what everyone else is doing and whether or not I'm doing it RIGHT. I love my son with my whole heart, I give him my very best, and make each decision with his best interests in mind.

Being able to do that for the.most.incredible little person is one thing I'm glad I didn't wait another year to do!

xo

Resignation

Resignation

by J.D. McClatchy

Here the oak and silver-breasted birches
Stand in their sweet familiarity
While underground, as in a black mirror,
They have concealed their tangled grievances,
Identical to the branching calm above
But there ensnared, each with the others' hold
On what gives life to which is brutal enough.
Still, in the air, none tries to keep company
Or change its fortune. They seem to lean
On the light, unconcerned with what the world
Makes of their decencies, and will not show
A jealous purchase on their length of days.
To never having been loved as they wanted
Or deserved, to anyone's sudden infatuation
Gouged into their sides, to all they are forced
To shelter and to hide, they have resigned themselves. 

{here}

Child

Your clear eye is the one absolutely beautiful thing.
I want to fill it with color and ducks,
The zoo of the new
Whose name you meditate --
April snowdrop, Indian pipe,
Little

Stalk without wrinkle,
Pool in which images
Should be grand and classical ...

 

~Sylvia Plath

Cabin Fever Remedies via Instagram

Trying our best to beat cabin fever this week...is it spring yet?

Mobius' mud table.

Making animal sounds...panting like a dog.

Snowy Duncan Gardens

Got a much needed dose of green at the Manito Conservatory.

In awe. I told him we were in the jungle with the monkeys.

Green/warmth/life

Color/patina/pattern

Snowy pines out/ mossy orchids in

Banana snack date at Rockwood Bakery

Cozy inside

Chicken Soup

I've got a killer cold, a bad case of homesickness, cabin fever,

and my hubs is working out of town for the third straight week.

It's no fun. 

Fortunately, this lady's voice has healing powers, I swear.
(particularly her album The Story)

Her music restored me in the past and is working it's magic again today...
BC's my go-to chicken soup for anything artist.

Brandi Carlile

Do you have a "musical shaman" or fave comforting musician?

Home

This about sums up today...and every day since Christmas. I want to go home.

Pregnancy Pics

These almost make me want to have pregnancy pics taken with #2...almost. 

Natural, a smidge artsy & totally in your element. Love.

Just phenomenal via {here}

What is it about this I love so much?? via {here}

oh, how gorgeous via {here}

The LOVELY Charlotte Gainsbourg via {here}

Rays

The sun is out...but don't be fooled, it's still a chilly 15 degrees.

Think I'll be doing some of this today...

{here}

little red address book

I should have taken a picture of my 15 year old address book before I tossed it. I'll describe: bursting at the seams, broken binding, navy blue vinyl cover, names crossed out 18 times, ugly, outdated address book. 

Can you blame me for throwing it out as soon as I came home with this pretty little number? Address books are surprisingly hard to find these days...cute ones that is. Even Etsy didn't have many that jumped out at me-and I needed one cheap and more importantly, STAT.

I found this 4"x6" photo album at Target for 4 bucks and used blank index cards to write all my addresses in sharpie and organized them alphabetically. Now my little red book will stay pretty and clean-no more crossed out names-just fill out a new index card when a friend moves and replace the old card.

This one is cute enough to keep out in the phone nook.

Hudson-isms

My son is 15 months old & getting more and more fun by the day.

A few of his isms so I won't forget...

Playing with the windchime in the snow

• He breaks out randomly into the giggles...lately when he's tired.

• He ooohs and ahhhs the kitchen vent and any light fixtures.

• To dance, he shakes his head from side to side or up and down...no body movements, it's all in the head. 

• Whenever my phone rings (set to Cat Power's Free) he dances. (see above)

• He has good taste in music. (see above)

• He turns the tv in the playroom on and proceeds to sit in my lap to indicate it's time to watch Baby Signing Time...we watch it once daily.

• He can sign please, eat, more, milk, dog, frog, and gives a really good effort on the rest. ;)

• He is obsessed with dogs...he will stop me from continuing a book so he can go back to the page with the dog picture.

• He blinks quickly and repeatedly when he is shy and/or flirting. 

•  He likes to read his book in the car...especially comical when it's upside down because he has such a serious face..."ah yes, what an enjoyable read", he seems to say. 

• He can growl like a tiger, trumpet like an elephant, and bark like a dog.

•  He will wander the house in complete contentment for hours as long as he has two things...one in each hand. Doesn't matter what--as long as both hands are full, all is right with the world.

• He loves to drag around things with cords. The alarm clock. The nintendo controller. It's kindof his thing.

Sitting on Dug next to Sammy

Baby Signing TIME

My house looks like it's been ransacked after this little one works his way through.

Getting Organized: Starting Small

For the past ten days, I have been an organizing MACHINE! 

As in my new middle name is Organize.

During Hudson's naps: I'm organizing. After H's bedtime: I'm organizing. Every day: I'm organizing, organizing, organizing.

Ok you get the picture. I have made more progress than I expected to in such a short time...my entire kitchen is reorganized and is now finally FUNCTIONAL-what a concept! It's also clean and beautiful and I find myself opening cabinet doors and leaving them open so I can admire the orderliness.

One thing I'm not looking at in awe are the pictures I've taken of my new organized spaces/projects-ugh harder than it looks-especially on such cloudy days. Which is why I am only sharing the first project I started with...my other pictures blew too hard to fix in photoshop. 

I found it best to start my organizing small-just dig in with one small, very-definitely-achievable project. "Organize the entire house" can leave a person feeling overwhelmed and wondering where to begin...to quote Meryl in Adaptation, you have to whittle it down to a more manageable size.

Once you've organized one thing, anything, successfully, you'll be even more pumped to dig in to the next messy project.

Soooooo voila, my first very small project.

I saw this idea on Pinterest (weird) and couldn't wait to grab my trusty hole punch and a binder ring and save our 2012 Christmas cards in an organized and collected manner.

How easy and genius is this?

Stay tuned for my organized/cute/cheap/easy address book, recipe book, and 'binders full of dvds'.

Word of the Day

{here}

What a lovely concept.

Cookies and Inspiration

I haven't made cookies since Christmas, but I broke down tonight and whipped up a batch of (burnt-because they are best that way) peanut butter cookies. Annnnd I proceeded to eat 10 of them-all while becoming inspired by these two women. Indulgence.

#Britishaccentlove #Womeninspiringwomen #Tedtalks

this...

and this...

Week on Instagram

I took ONE picture this week...my excuse, it's been a really rough week with Mr. B.'s work schedule and I've been SO busy (and slightly overwhelmed) with my Organize the House Project...I do have a bunch of "before" pics of my pantry, interior design library, and buffet...just working on the "afters".

This little boy is my sunshine. He is also Sammy's sunshine...he is never too far behind Hudson, gets anxious when he cries, gives him kisses and lets H crawl all over him.

“I love you much
most beautiful darling
more than anyone on the earth
and I like you better
than everything in the sky.”

~e.e.cummings

The Outtakes pt 1

Admittedly, most of the pictures I post of Hudson here are the good shots, the happy shots, the well mannered, cute, hair-brushed, smiling shots...I suspect that is the case with most moms.

Well, I thought it'd be funny to share some of the outtakes, the crying ones, messy ones, crazy hair ones that didn't quite make the cut for instagram or the blog...until today!

hudson losing patience (to put it nicely) at target

what you talkin bout willis?

my friend snapped this pic of hudson this summer when i stepped away for a sec.

chunk!

this cracks me up! what a face!

ha!

this was how i found hudson with daddy when i came home during our yard sale...keepin it classy.

My Moves

{here}

When I saw this pic I thought this is how I look during typical meal and snack times with Hudson...me dancing like a crazy-face in the kitchen while he laughs hysterically. I know I won't be able to do this when he's nine without scoffing and embarrassment on his part-so I take FULL advantage while I can-anything for a baby laugh.

Happy Thursday all.

99 2012

Blog post #99 reflecting on the last 365 of 2012...

one of my favorite pics of 2012

The babe:

2012 was a monumental year of FIRSTS for Hudson. Nothing I did this year even compares to all the amazing things H learned and accomplished this year!!!!!! Sitting, rolling over, crawling, walking, talking, FIRST BIRTHDAY, first tooth, first words!!!!!

We went from this...

sitting still and blowing bubbles...

 to this...

at the playground in overalls

at the doc office moving chairs about

playing playing playing

a LOT of barefoot swinging

A LOT of laughing!

The mister:

In August Mr. Brady and I celebrated TEN YEARS of marriage-a milestone made even more special because it was our first anniversary with Ybarra #3. One of my favorite things about 2012 was parenting with Alex and realizing what I suspected would be the case-that we make a REALLY great team. He is so supportive, helpful, patient, loving. I couldn't ask for a better baby-daddy or teammate for this super important job!

parenting team ybarra

The rest of the fam:

I was so fortunate to spend the long cold Spokane winter and part of spring in the company of my mama! She kept Hudson and I company and taught me SO much about how to care for a little one. We also learned a ton about the history of Spokane together and took many a tour to the historical places of this city. It was a blast having my bestie here to go antiquing, walking, and adventuring with.

Hudson and Grammy @ the Lilac Garden

The happenings:
I say this at the beginning of each new year-"This year I want to do something AMAZING." While I think bringing up bebe is pretty darn amazing, I was able to sneak in another little something that I enjoyed a bunch and learned a ton from...partnering with my co-worker/friend Jalena and starting our interior design business. I couldn't have chosen a better partner-we worked SO WELL together...she put the Jae in BlueJae and the FUN in hours long furniture shopping! I am so excited and happy for her to start her new adventure in Montana with her mister (meaning no more BlueJae for the time being) ...and I know we will always share some really funny memories-and a close bond that comes from a successful partnership.

In search of the perfect greige...

2013: What's next?

Hi there Twenty Thirteen: I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU!

I love new beginnings and can't wait for what this year has in store. I'm excited to prep in every way for Ybarra #4-who is currently still just a twinkle in our eyes-we have baby fever!!!!!!!!

At long last I am going to get the casa ORGANIZED and simplify, simplify, simplify-using the tips I learned from a recent Feng Shui read...many a blog post to come regarding this subject.

And as per usual, I want to do something AMAZING in 2013 and have a few ideas as to what that will be...obvs mamacita to Hudson is my #1 most amazing job & I couldn't love it more, but I want to do something creative that will bring in a few extra dollhairs for H's college fund this year-more on that to come as soon as I figure out what it is...

Wishing you all the best this 2013...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

yes, lets. {here}