Exciting news!

Did you guys know I'm taking the plunge and offering interior styling and organizing services?


Yes! I'm taking my love for décor & styling and making it into a little side hobby. Truth be told I've been thinking about it for a long time. Long, as in since April of last year. Like back when I was really huge and pregnant with Caroline, and my sweet friend and photographer extraordinaire Liz knocked some sense into me and said I really should start charging for my expertise (that I'd been giving away for free all this time). And so, after a lot of deliberating (over a year of it!) I decided to start offering my services for real. It's scary AND exciting!


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My love for décor goes way back. Remember Spiegel catalogs, circa early '90's? I spent lots of time studying the home section, imagining my own rooms and layouts & deciding how each room would be decorated. I love walking into homes and deciding what I would do with them. A little mental makeover if you will (not to make you nervous or anything...trust me, some of you already know what you're doing). I still search real estate listings because, #homeobsessed. And since having kids, I have a huge soft spot for nurseries, play rooms, and kid spaces. And more importantly, trying to figure out how to corral and store ALL.THOSE.TOYS. (trust me...we've been there, done that, are currently living it).


I find a lot of people are nervous and just need a push in the right direction when it comes to decorating and organizing their homes. Décor decisions can be overwhelming! Especially when you've pinned every image known to man, and still don't know how to get started. And sometimes you've got just too much stuff and aren't quite sure how to edit and organize it all.


Well, that's where I'm here to help.


I'm a believer that you should be excited to come home at the end of the day, and love the home you live in! Our house is a constant work in progress (if you know me, then you know we're typically talking about the "next project" when we're in the middle of another). But at the end of the day, I love our home and the time we spend in it. Everyone should feel that way, right?


If you're currently in debate over what color to paint a room, what throw pillows to toss on your couch, or how to style those built-ins that you've been staring at for months...shoot me an e-mail, I'd love to help!




Hello.

At risk of sounding like an Adele song, hello, it's me (for the record, I'm not an Adele fan, but you're welcome...that song is officially stuck in all of our heads now).

 

But HELLO! It's been awhile, right? I've missed this blog so. Our lives have gotten so busy these last 2 years (has it been that long?), it's been nearly impossible to sit down and take the time to write. If you don't know me or aren't following along on Instagram, here's a quick recap of what we've been up to since I last checked in.

 

 

We sold our house in the city and jumped ship (quite literally) to the 'burbs.

 

 

We had a baby!

 

Who looks a bit more like this these days...

 

Our sweet Caroline was born last May, and to say we are obsessed with her is a bit of an understatement.

 

We also sent a certain someone to pre-school this year (who subsequently turned three while we weren't looking)...

 

 

When time allows, we are working on house projects. We landed upon a completely renovated cape, which made moving in & living life easy (I'm trying to wrap my head around our original idea of buying a fixer upper, all the while managing our little circus?!). Fortunately--for me!--the style of this house was not our taste at all, so I'm getting to change rooms one by one, slowly but surely. Some days I look around and feel like we still live in their house. But then I take a step back to look at the bigger picture, and we've definitely put our mark on this place. I can't wait to start sharing pictures with you soon!

I'm also taking a leap of faith and working on a little side project which will allow me to help you (my dear friends) to spruce up your home, style it & organize your spaces. Because your home should make you happy, right? More info to come! And if you're feeling a little impatient...in the meantime, let's chat, shall we?

Speaking of restyling, this blog will soon be getting a new look. I love it, it's fun...but it's just not me anymore, you know? I've also toyed with the idea of ditching the City Dwellin' name, but at the end of the day that's how you've come to know and love me. And quite frankly, city love will always be in our hearts (also, we live literally 10 minutes from our old house). Between the husband and I, we lived a total of about 15 years in the city. I guess we'll always be city dwellers at heart.

Well that's it folks! Hi. Hello. I'm back. This feels good.

 

 

It's the new year, y'all

Oh hey, 2014. Nice to see you. We had a great Christmas, new year's, and 2013...but now it's time to move on, clear the clutter, get back to basics. In so many words, it's time to simplify. I think that's my one little word for this year. Which makes this type A freak just a little bit excited for what's to come (clear away the clutter! get organized! live with less!). We'll see if the husband plays along...probably not...still worth a shot though....

So that's about it folks. I hope everyone's Christmas was just as awesome as ours. And now I'm off to work on 2014. And shovel snow. Because that's all we do now that we decided not to hire the plow guy this season (yep, this was the year we so were not going to need him....famous.last.words).

See you soon! xoxo

And we have a toddler...

Well would you look at that, it's officially November! I don't know how that happened, and the fact that Christmas is lurking it's ugly head right around the corner is something I just can't process at the present moment. Because one week ago today, our sweet and lovely (with a side of sass) Emme turned one. One! I can barely believe it and in fact, I'm still recovering from all the celebrating we did last week & weekend. It's hard to believe just how fast this all happened...

We celebrated with family, Wegmans subs & cupcakes on Halloween (yep, remember I gave birth on my favorite holiday??). And then we capped off the weekend with a big 'ol party with family & friends on Saturday. I was up late the night before cursing Pinterest (seriously, what did we do before Pinterest...apparently we had boring, non-creative parties), we crammed as many people as we could into our tiny house, I was sweating for a solid 3 hours, shoveled some food in my face & chased after a toddler all day. It was good times! No seriously, it was. I'm joking people! But just don't expect me to do this again next year! Oh, and I didn't take one single picture that day. I hired my sweet friend Liz to document it all, and let me tell you it was hands down the BEST money I've spent in a long time. Plus, she volunteered to photoshop the sweat off my forehead in all the shots. Winning! I'll be sure to share photos soon...

And here's our little owl on her birthday (aka--Halloween). The fact that she kept her hat on--the essence of the costume--is nothing short of a miracle.

 

 

 

 

Funny, even at age one she knows how to inspect her loot....

 

Anyway, since Emme's birthday, it also dawned on me that I never shared her birth story (something I thought about doing). But then I got thinking about it & honestly, do people really want to read about that stuff? For documenting purposes it might be smart. But then again it's something I'll never forget. I mean, I lived it! But in case you're curious, I'll give you the condensed version....I was large & overdue, went to the hospital the night after my due date to get the ball rolling (and subsequently had the worst night's sleep of my life--prior to the sleepless nights we were about to have, btw...), the following morning had the 'do we' or 'don't we' go the C-section route conversation, got induced shortly thereafter, labored all day, experienced the sweet, sweet effects of an epidural (seriously, if you choose to go down the no pain meds road, well then, gurl, I give you mad props!), got stuck at 8 cm for 5 hours, and then ultimately made the decision to have that C-section...after all of that! I was nervous for all of 10 seconds until I realized that I was way too tired to have it any other way. I passed out shortly after Emme was born--a combination of meds and pure exhaustion--and I don't remember a thing that happened in the OR after her birth. Let me tell you something, C-sections are no joke y'all. It's major surgery & something that shouldn't be taken lightly, but in my case was something we felt we needed to do at the time. The recovery is hard and long, and part of my incision never healed after the fact. Which translated to daily home healthcare nurse visits, weekly doctor's visits, and no driving for over 4 weeks. The second I was given clearance to drive, I hauled our asses to Target and it was one of the most amazing outings ever. But here we are, a year later, and that whole experience seemed like a piece of cake. Now, trying to prevent a toddler from banging on her sitter's fish tank every morning? That's what we like to call difficult!

Can you believe we have a full blown toddler living with us?! Yeah, me either. Happy (belated) birthday sweet, sweet Emme! Love you to bits & pieces to the moon & back!

The fog has lifted

Well, enough for me to form words into sentences. Which is huge because we're 5 days into this cold (it seems everyone is sick right now, huh?) and I'm SO over it, I can't even tell you. I'm a huge baby when I get sick. Adding insult to injury, the husband is gone for a WEEK long work trip in Denver. So I've been a sick single mom to a sick baby all week (who's better now...whew). The fun times never end around here! I swear, if someone had a camera on me while I tried to get breakfast & lunch made, bags packed, a dog walked, and a baby & adult dressed and ready to walk out of the house in a 1.5 hour time span (which felt like 10 minutes) you'd all be laughing right now. By the time I had dropped Emme off to the sitter's & made it to the Tim Horton's drive-thru, I was secretly hoping they were serving up mimosas.

Anyhoo! I'm checking in to share some photos that we had taken of Emme a couple of weeks ago. Can you believe she'll be ONE in just over a month? I know, every mama says it. Like, where did the time go? But I honestly can't believe she's almost one. She's a sassy spit-fire, so much like her mama, and becoming more and more independent by the day. I certainly don't miss those newborn months when no one slept for 3 months, but I'd also love to bottle up this baby time. It goes so fast!

 

 

 

 

all photos courtesy of Elizabeth Lee Millen Images

Aren't they fab? The photos were shot by my fabulously talented friend Liz Millen, who I hired to shoot Emme's birthday party in a month. As a bonus, she threw in this studio session, and we'll have these pictures in time to display at the party. If you're in the Buffalo area, check her out! She's booked until the end of the year, but find a reason to have her shoot your family, babies (or just you...ha!) sometime next year! These are only the sneak peeks, but I can't WAIT to see all of them! Not only are they just awesome photos, but the fact that Emme had no nap that day & went into the session in a good mood & cooperated with us...well, that's nothing short of a miracle!

So that's all folks. Time to take some more cold meds. See you next time...when I'm more lucid!

Around here lately...

Well, it's September! The unofficial start to fall & a regular routine. I have no clue what I'm going to do when I have children who will go off to school. Routine + fancy school supplies + back to school clothes = I lose my mind. Anyway! I'm kind of pumped that fall is here. A little sad that summer flew by so fast, but meh...I guess I'm over it. Upward & onward!

We've been taking advantage of our local farmer's market. Only two more months left (sniff, sniff)! Man, are we going to miss all these great fruits & veggies come winter. It's so easy to feed Emme when we've got so much fresh stuff on hand.

 

 

And no trip to the farmer's market is complete without a stop to listen to whatever musician is playing that day. In this case it was a fiddler (who's been there the last 2 weeks). We take our live music very seriously! Either that or she's totally unimpressed.

 

 



 

 

Lately, we've spent every last waking hour saying the word NO. Like, 9,291 times a day. Seriously, you think I'm joking. This child is going to grow up thinking mommy only knows one word! Some days I get to the point where it's just easier to remove a problem all together...

 

 

 

 

 

I mean, seriously. I had pretty much had it that day. And this was all before 9:30 a.m. Good thing she's so cute, it's hard to resist this face!

 



 

We celebrated the last weekend of summer at the wedding of the husband's childhood friend. The husband was also in the wedding, so it was a busy weekend of rehearsals, celebrating, brunches, etc. The wedding was so much fun & just gorge. In this day & age of Pinterest, it's hard for weddings not to be!

 

 

 

 

 

That weekend was also our first overnight away from Emme (thanks to my mom who babysat)! The wedding was local, and we stayed only 15 minutes from our house. But ahhh....it was awesome. I was totally looking forward to catching up on sleep. But we're parents, so you just automatically wake up at 7:00 a.m....baby or no baby. And we didn't get to bed until late since we were some of the last people to leave the wedding. We danced all night like we were 21 years old (and then woke up the next morning to find out that--surprise!--we are in fact, not 21 years old). We practically had to be escorted out of the place.

 

 

 

And while we were out celebrating, this girl was busy turning 10 months! I took this pic a few days late, but getting her to sit still for any sort of picture these days is just impossible. She's over it.

 



 

 

It's hard to believe I've already begun to plan her first birthday party! I know every mama says it, but when did this happen? It seems like just yesterday she was born!

 

 

I hosted a play date for Emme & her "friends" this past weekend. These girls are going to be the bestest of friends when they get older (because their parents told them so)!

 

 



 

 

Emme was kind of over the whole play date thing shortly after it began. I guess that's the hard thing about hosting in your own home...it's the same old toys & tricks. Eh. Anyway, she and baby Brynn are the same size & Emme has a whole 5 months on her! I swear, she is such a little peanut. She had on 9 month jeans that day, and they were sagging off of her. If she wasn't wearing diapers, she'd be sporting major plumber's crack. 

 

We also broke out the Bills gear for the season home opener! My girlfriend gave us this outfit (so cute, right?), and I figured we should wear it now...because our excitement for the team will likely fade by game two. And wouldn't you know, they lost to the Patriots that day! They were winning for most of the game too. The husband was running around the house declaring that the Bills were this year's "team of destiny". And by the time I had come home from a Wegman's run, they had lost (evidently they were no longer a "team of destiny"). Oh well, you win some, you lose some. And if you're from Buffalo, you continue to hold onto hope...because this.just.might.be.the.year. Or something like that.

 

 

Emme also started with a new sitter last week! I'm officially back to work four days a week, and home with her every Friday. I'm a little sad about the transition, but this is a great thing for both of us. She gets to socialize 2 days a week (she's with my mom the other 2 days), and I get to go to work and do adult things like, working without interruptions & having adult conversations and blogging. See? A win-win for everyone!

 

I also think I mentioned it in my last post, but I'm just about finished with Emme's playroom! You should know better than to expect I'll post pictures when I say I will (soon, I promise!), but just a few more finishing touches, and this room will be 100% Emme's. Which is pretty awesome since she already loves it in there. And it's pretty much a worry free zone (for the most part), since she can't get into too much trouble in there (it keeps her away from touching the dvd player 800 times a day). We just need to get a baby gate to keep her from escaping, and then mommy can happily (or so they say) tend to the laundry and/or other assorted house chores. You take your pick.

 

So bye, bye for now (says Emme in the new playroom)!

 



Oh, um...

....hi blog! Nice to see you again.

It seems I took a bit of a blog sabbatical. I guess that's to be expected when you're busy enjoying the summer and chasing after a 10 month old who does.not.stop. Um, like ever. And yeah, our house should have been baby proofed ages ago.

So anyway, I'm back! It's hard to believe the summer is almost over. We just got back from our annual trip to Cape May where we learned a cold, hard lesson that vacations are no longer about working on your tan & reading the latest US Weekly. No, no it's not, my friends. Vacations are now all about occupying your baby on the beach (while she gets sand in every imaginable crevice), still trying to honor a nap schedule, and eating dinner at 5:00 sharp in an effort to be in bed by 7:30 (parents included!). And to think next year we'll be chasing a toddler down the beach. Hold onto your swim trunks folks!

the baby tent that we used all of an hour...and then it took 17 hours to figure out how to fold it up

 

 

yep, we carted ourselves to the beach everyday with that thing behind me...all 827 lbs. of baby gear

 

 

 

first day at the beach...meh (meltdown to ensue in 5, 4, 3....)

 

 

playing in the town fountains was WAY more fun (and a daily must-do)

 

 

 

 

lobster salad sammies at the Lobster House (touché)

 

 

second day at the beach, much more successful...that, and we got her to keep a hat on...finally.

 

 

 

 

for the record, I hadn't even noticed him.

 

 

 

 

day 3: beach living is easy

 

 

 

 

 

And...because I couldn't go without including this pic from this past weekend at the husband's family cabin....

 

 

 

OMG. What in the world?? She looks like a toddler in this picture!! I can barely believe my girl is almost a year. I know, I know, every mother says that. But seriously, I still can't believe it! Miss thing & her eight (yes EIGHT!) teeth. She polished off a steak last night.

Just kidding (obvs)!

In other news, I've been working on Emme's playroom. It's coming along, and we are SO freaking happy to have a place to contain all of the toys! Not to mention the room is adjacent to the living room, so it could not be more perfect. I never thought I'd be that person who required a toy/playroom in our next house. But would you look at that, I've become her. I'll share progress pics soon!

Or in 4 months, or whatever.