Nostalic Sundays...

I've been so busy lately, my usual excuse, right? But I do promise updates and blog posts in the coming week. I've got super cute Halloween pictures of my little carrot, Letter to Lucy #1 and more. For now -- Nostalgic Sunday:

“Over the course of the average lifetime you meet a lot of people. Some of them stick with you through thick and thin. Some weave their way through your life and disappear forever. But once in a while someone comes along who earns a permanent place in your heart”
- The Wonder Years

Dali Decals Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the Dali Decals Giveaway is...::drumroll please::Leah from The Toothless Grin who said: "How on earth do you pick?! There are so many! I think for my son's room it would be really fun to have the "Dandelion blowing in the wind" - probably in blue. These are amazing... I was just telling my husband about decals. I'll have to show him this site!" - Leah

Leah, I will be emailing you soon! Thank you so much to Dali Decals for the generous giveaway!

Also, stay tuned because Dali Decals has also promised to make a online coupon code for my readers, good for 30 days... I'll post it as soon as I receive it because I know you all are just dying to get your hands on some of those decals, as I am as well!

"Today was good, today was fun, tomorrow is another one."
-Dr. Seuss

Pole Dancing Therapy...

Got you attention, right?

So today I took my first Pole Dancing/ Strip Workout class. I almost didn't go for a variety of reasons -- not wanting to give up my time with Lucy, having a sore throat, not wanting to show how absolutely awkward I really am to a room full of strangers...to name a few. I went though.

I hesitated mostly because I cherish every moment on the weekends with Lucy. I get so little time with her during the week that come weekend time I rarely ever go out and do anything on my own. Ever. Ask I my friends, they haven't seen me in, oh, about 10 months. To be absolutely truthful I'm perfectly happy not socializing or having outside interests, not doing anything but hang out with my girl. There, I said it. I'm not saying its right, but its true. I've become that mom. But something tells me that 10 months into this motherhood thing might be a good time to branch out a little, especially doing things that are for a couple hours only. A mom with other interests, be they few and far between, is a better mom for it. Or so I hear. So I sucked it up and told myself that from 2-4 pm is usually Lucy's naptime anyways and went.

Let me let you in on a little secret about myself post-baby. Since Lucy has been born I have felt feel about as sexy as this:

...and that's on a good day. I'm skinner than I've been in years, almost down to my wedding weight of 128 lbs. and I still feel, well, blah. There isn't really any other way to describe it. I just have a very overwhelming blah-ness that I see when I look in the mirror. I feel like now that I'm a mom it is just too hard to separate Mom-Bev from Sexy-Bev...in fact, Mom-Bev has just plain taken over and there just isn't room, or time, for Sexy-Bev. Man, she's so bossy that Mom-Bev...

I used to feel sexy without trying hard at all. I mean of course I had my off days, don't we all? But I'd like to say pre-baby I felt good about myself more often than not. Not to toot my own horn but, damn, I looked good. Cute body, nice hair, put together clothes, I wore a little makeup but still looked young and fresh, and pretty hot (ok, now I am tooting my own horn. Shamelessly).

Nowadays, my hair has gone wild post-pregnancy (and by wild I really mean wiry and gray, yes gray!), even with the weight loss I still have a woobly muffin around my middle and even with makeup on I still look...blah.

So, if you haven't figured through my long explanation, I am need of some major help in the sexiness department so when a friend of mine at work invited me to a Pole Dancing/Strip Class I was intrigued. So I went, and I'm glad I did. I'm not going to go into the specifics of the class (I did get to swing around the pole though), but I will tell you that I got some much needed perspective on sexiness. That is, I still can be sexy. Yes, it'll be awkward at first, but sexiness is like that old adage of falling off a horse, you just need to get back on again no matter how scary (by scary I mean ridiculous) it feels.

I'll back back for the next Pole Dancing/Strip class next Sunday... It may take a little while but I'm bringing sexy back.

"I think the quality of sexiness comes from within. It is something that is in you or it isn't and it really doesn't have much to do with breasts or thighs or the pout of your lips. "
-Sophia Loren

Nostalgic Sundays...

"Once upon a time there was a girl I knew, who lived across the street. Brown hair, brown eyes. When she smiled, I smiled. When she cried, I cried. Every single thing that ever happened to me that mattered, in some way had to do with her."
-The Wonder Years

Happy Halloween...

Happy Halloween! For your viewing pleasure...my Halloween costume from work yesterday:


There are four girls in my office at work and each of us was a "Golden Girl" for Halloween. I was "Ma" aka "Sophia". Don't be jealous, I know I look AMAZING. We handed out candy and generally made complete fools of ourselves, and I think the employees loved it. So it was a pretty successful day I'd say!

I love everything about Halloween so today we are going to the final Farmer's Market of the season, going to hang out a bit at home, hand out candy and then go to a Harvest Celebration where Lucy will be sporting her adorable "Carrot" costume and I will be wearing bunny ears...get it, I'm a bunny and she's my carrot? I just want to eat her up!

"Thank you for being a friend."
-Theme Song from "The Golden Girls"

Pumpkin Patch In Pictures...

Last Saturday we took a trip to Sauvie's Island Pumpkin Patch, which we visit every year to go through the corn maize and then take a hayride to get our pumpkins. It was so much fun, as always. The day was a gorgeous, sunny day and we had such a wonderful time! I even bought pears and apples at the patch's market to bake pies the next day. So fun! I'll also share my pie-making and recipe at the end of this post because I have found the best.pie.ever!

The Market at the Patch...
Lucy and I...

Getting ready to enter the Maize...
In the Corn Maize...
Wandering around aimlessly...
The View...
Sunflower baby...
The Big Red Barn...
Happy Lady...
Flowers...
Squash...
Our purchases (Corn Nuggets = Amazing)...
Taking a rest...
Whoa...
At the Patch...
Hmmm... what is this?
That's right...we sat the baby down in the middle of the field...we weren't the only ones...
Choosing a pumpkin...
Our little family...
Pumpkins...

Now for my pie! The pie a recipe I found on Cooking Light and it is truly the best pie I have ever had so I thought I should share. It is a Pear Pie with Streusel Topping and Caramel Sauce. I found it very extremely easy to make and the only changes I would make the second time around are: double the streusel topping (it needs more because it is so delicious) and pre-bake the crust for 15 minutes with a weighted center before filling. Also, I always use Martha Stewart's Pate Brisee recipe for pie crusts, it is light and delicious every time!

Pears... Martha Stewart's Pate Brisee, my go-to pie crust. It is amazing every time, and easy!
Finished product...
Try it, you'll love it! The pears are way better for pies compared to apples in my mind. This is the pie I will be making for Thanksgiving. I love autumn!

Don't forget to enter today's Dali Decal Giveaway below. The Giveaway ends at 12:00 pm PST on Sunday!

"It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life. " -P.D. James

Giveaway Friday!!!

Happy Friday everyone! I've got a great giveaway for you all today in honor of it being a FRIDAY and being the day before Halloween! What is it? A wonderful $25.00 gift certificate to Dali Decals, which is the decal company I used (also known as Badass Custom Decals on Etsy) for Lucy's room. See the pictures on my blog entry here.

I loved everything about the decals I had ordered last year for Lucy's nursery. I ordered the six little birds in birdcages (although I insisted that the birds fly around outside the cages when we came to put them up in her room...so they were "free") which went so wonderfully with Lucy's bird themed bedding and mobile from Pottery Barn. They were a great quality, super easy to put up on the walls and they looked fantastic. I've had SO many compliments on them! What do you need to do to win? Visit the Dali Decals site and tell me what decal you would choose with your gift certificate and where it would go in your home within the comments section of this post.

I'm going to play this one, although I obviously can't win. I would choose this one in red for our staircase ...


And this one in the chocolate brown for Rob and I's room...


Please remember to include your email address in your comment. The Dali Decals Giveaway will end on Sunday afternoon at 12:00 pm PST. Thank you for reading and GOOD LUCK!

"Decorate your home. It gives the illusion that your life in more interesting that it really is."
-Charles M. Schultz