Baby Shower!

My sister and mom put together a baby shower for me and Lola this past weekend. As you can see from the pictures below, they are obviously majorly creative... and Pinterest fans! The theme was 'Pop'... as in I'm about to. I had a great time and got lots of amazing stuff for Lola. Everyone was super generous, and thanks to everyone who came! 

<3

Flinks! {Friday Links}

Geez, these weeks fly by! It feels like I do a Friday Links post every other day. Good thing its one of my favorites... and onward to the linkage!

Drea makes some amazing black-eyed-pea spread on toast. Yum.

Love this post from Bai on her funny husband watching an ultrasound.

I am on the hunt for a filing cabinet now after seeing Aileen's awesome tutorial on spray painting one!

This list of 12 creative ideas that will change your life is totally lifechanging, no joke. The beer bottle stopper is now in heavy rotation at our house. (via nova)

I'm doing this with knobs all over the place. I love it.

Katie from Skunkboy is featured on Danielle's Tattoo Tuesday and I want to steal her hair color.

This is a gorgeous DIY mobile tutorial from the even more gorgeous Jess: "Glitter is a gateway drug" (If you don't follow her on twitter, do. I die laughing on a daily basis.)

Jess cuts Wyatts hair and he looks like a little stud muffin. Plus the first pic? Kills me.

Do you take as many polaroids as I do? Sara has a ton of good ideas for displaying them.

Biet is eleven months!

Jezebel's motherload column is my favorite. This one on an unplanned  pregnancy is both hilarious and right on.

via creatively christy

I have seen tons of these DIY painted spoons tutorials, but I really like this one the best.

Hope you all have a fun weekend! 

Woah

Do I look worried? Slightly :)

Holy shit. That's what's going through my head right now. We just put an offer on a house and I can't believe how fast and easy it is to literally BUY A HOUSE. I know there is a long way to go until we're handed keys, but its crazy how quickly things can move. One minute we're at a bar pounding beers and smoking and having all kinds of naughty fun, and fast forward a few months, we're expecting our baby girl, buying a house and having all kinds of fun picking out a stroller. Life is crazy.

On a related note, I'm about to hit the 8 month pregnant mark and I definitely feel 8 months pregnant. One of my ribs is dislocated due to the way I'm carrying (very high). It is really, really difficult getting comfortable right now. I'm ready to be done and I cannot believe I still have two months to go. Yikes.

But still, I cannot wait to meet my baby girl. The last few years of my life have been rough. I don't want to put any pressure on myself, but I really feel confident this is the beginning of something amazing.

Grandma's Shower

Someone MADE this box. Seriously I need to step up my craft game.

My mom has the best friends. These ladies have all been BFFs for probably 20+ years. Their daughters are all around my age, and we went to school together as well. They gave her a 'Grandma shower' in which they gave her their favorite baby and kids books. My mom got a TON of adorable children's books to read to Lola, and I even got an amazing quilt for her. These ladies are SO creative, they seriously make Martha Stewart look like a slacker.

My sister and mom with some delicious owl cupcakes

Share a Button?

Hey all, does anyone want to share a button over on my sidebar on the right --->? I like having links to my readers and my fav blogs, and this is the best way for me to do it... if you are interested, send me your button info! (businessiscasual at gmail dot com)  I'm not really into the whole 'sponsor' thing (too much work!)  but if you want to include a button of mine on your blog too, that would be maaaaahhvvelous :-)

iWeekend

First, I want to thank everyone for all the nice comments on the Nursery stuff I posted last week. It means so much to me that you all took the time to say something kind, and especially with all the internet hate out there... I was nervous, to say the least. I feel much better about our budget baby stuff now, and I really appreciate you all sharing your thoughts. It's nice to know that my readers are so sweet and thoughtful.

That said, this weekend was busy. Friday I got to see Lola in 3D ultrasound... it was interesting. My dad put it best: "She looks like an alien, but you know, its kind of cute." I love my dad's no-BS-attitude. My mom later compared one of the images to my newborn photo and she looks identical. It will be neat to see what she looks like in person! Oh, and she had a full head of hair and eyelashes already.

Saturday my dogs finally made themselves useful: They murdered the annoying gopher that lived in our backyard. He was threatening to destroy our newly planted vegetable garden, so when I walked out and found a head and two paws left for me by two very very proud dogs who were COVERED in blood and guts, I was both glad and relieved that the gopher only casualty. I thought about photographing the evidence, but I don't think anyone else needs to see that. And I brushed their teeth twice.

Beach and rug making

We also checked out the blown out surf and I did some more nursery work.

Sunday, I made Jess' breakfast cookies (awesome!), ate too much watermelon (again), saw some new houses we can't afford, and went to another record sale... this one had an arm-wrestling punk Snow White. I tried to nonchalantly get a photo of that, but I failed. Trust me you guys, it was exactly as it sounds.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Flinks! {Friday Links}

Wow, this week flew by. Tomorrow we are getting our 3D ultrasound done. My mom REALLY wanted to do it, so I'm humoring her. I think they have a tendency to look like little aliens in those pics, but hey, aliens are cute too.

Cool art tutorial: How to make a Rainbow Melted Crayon thingy. This is another thing I'm doing in the nursery!

Check out this crazy story on how the CIA secretly dosed people in the late 1950s with LSD. Talk about a bad trip, maaaan. (Via Nova)

Danielle takes Henry on a mama-son outing that is pretty dang cute.

These pics on Drea's blog make me really, really want to go to the beach in Florida!

NYC Easter pics on Petite Biet!

Interesting article on why dudes hit on pregnant ladies...

Woah, this Audrey Hepburn makeover is good!

Check out these cool FREE social media icons from Jess.

I hope you all have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by...

Nursery Tour

So Lola's room is pretty tiny, and its not as fancy as some of the other nurseries you see on other blogs, since we did this on a (SUPER) budget. But I thought I'd share what it looks like so far...

I love have a little collection of vintage owls going for Lola's room. Most of what I've found was through etsy or thrift stores but I did find this cool owl bank at Urban Outfitters.

My mom made this great name banner herself, after seeing something similar on Pinterest. I love that my mom uses Pinterest, but has never used facebook. I also found this vinyl mural in the same colors at Target on clearance. 

This rocking chair was white when I found it, so I sanded it and busted out the spray paint. I love how it turned out! Spray paint is my favorite tool.

And lastly is Lola's ever expanding closet, with a few of my outfits from when I was a baby. That pink tutu is courtesy of my Mom, of course :)

So I know there's no expensive Pottery Barn furniture, and most of what is used is either made or found in thrift stores, but I think having to be on such a tight budget forced me to be creative! My mom made some awesome curtains and pillows and I have some really cool DIY's I'm working on (a rug, wall art). So this is just part 1... I'll have more soon so stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!

iWeekend

This weekend was spent eating from food trucks, hanging out with family, and selling some records at a record swap at the Ambiguous Warehouse. The weather here was super warm, nice during the days but made for some uncomfortable sleeping at night. But then again, 7 months in, and everything is getting kind of uncomfortable :)

1.The Viking Truck, 2. HUGE BLT from BaconMania, 3.The skate park inside Ambiguous, 4. Wall art at ambiguous, 5. Selling records, 6. Booties for baby

Hope you all had a great Easter or Passover or whatever you celebrate!

Flinks! {Friday Links}

Happy Friday from my 29 week fetus and me taking myspace-style photos in the bathroom!

Yikes. Happy Easter: the 65 sketchiest Easter bunnies. (#64???? WTF)

This is a really good, funny article on the Happiness of Procreation (and if you've never read the Hairpin, you will love it!)

Texts from Hilary. Funniest tumblr in a while.

Nova takes on apologizing... and I just LOVE the Amy Poehler quote on getting rid of toxic people:

"Only hang around people that are positive and make you feel good. Anybody who doesn't make you feel good, kick them to the curb, and the earlier you start in your life the better. The minute anybody makes you feel weird and non included or not supported, you know, either beat it or tell them to beat it."


I died and went to Pirate Hooker Heaven when I heard about Anchorman 2. 

Coolest spooky vintage photo gifs ever.

One of my favorite bloggers of all time, Jess from The Doe or The Deer, returns!

NPR says coffee might not be that bad for my baby. Good thing because this recipe for cold brewed iced coffee from Kate is looking preeeeetttttyyy good.

Speaking of recipes, I'm trying this Easter dessert from Jess. Yum. Meee.

Oh and this one for quiche from Danielle (I'm very hungry writing this post!)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

One last thing, I would love it if you would click the link to vote below... TBB is a great resource if you are new to the babyblog world! Thanks again :)

Recently...

Baby buys: I'll have a mini-me with these baby-raybans and this cute crochet dress thingy.

Oh dogs. Love you but you make things crazy in my house. I've got a hole digger and a shedder.

Chai Tea- new addiction. Hubby is doing a juice fast right now (go Troy!) and I'm looking at this one for myself after Lola arrives.

Had to make a LAX visit (ick) and as much as I LOVE airports (I work at one!) this one always is a nightmare. I have to say, their Alaska terminal redesign was very nice though. I'm such a nerd.

Hidden gem of LAX? A tunnel from terminal 5 out to arrivals... lined with hundreds of feet of miniature mosaic tiles!!! I was in awe and kept stopping to admire them, which probably made me look like a crazy person, but they were so cool!

Happy Thursday! It's ALMOST the weekened!

Good Reading

Ugh 7 months in... and I'm so tired! Turns out I'm anemic which might account for the tiredness, so I get to take iron. Fun. But still I'm just EXHAUSTED at night. It's cool, because I've gotten to catch up on some awesome reading.

The Hunger Games: Yes, I know, it's been a movie, it's got two sequels, and like, what are you guys into now so I know what I'LL be into in two years? I'm late to the party. But seriously it's a great read that you will LOVE and makes seeing the movie that much better.

Bringing up Bebe: I've heard lots of mom's out there huffing and puffing about this book. This book is all about how the French (and I would venture to guess MOST europeans) raise their children. I find it really interesting that the basis is NOT building your life around the baby's routine, but rather making them suit yours. Sounds good, but I wonder how realistic that really is. Especially since in France you have all that awesome wine and cheese to ease the pain of no sleep, right? If you are looking for a non-traditional parenting book with interesting anecdotes, check it out.

Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk - Like punk music? Well duh, so do I. This is a great great great book if you are into punk. I can't even say enough here- awesome stories. Buy it and you will LOVE IT.

I'm ALWAYS looking for book recs so if you have a book you love, PLEASE share with me in the comments!

iWeekend

Happy April! This weekend was doctor's offices and animals. After enduring the nasty glucose test for gestational diabetes (I passed) we went to the Santa Ana Zoo... Pretty small but had a great monkey exhibit.

The nursery is almost done too... I'm going to do a post but its not as fancy as some of the other nursery's you see on the babyblogs, so hopefully you'll all enjoy it.

1.Monkey dude , 2. Gross giant cockroaches, 3. Troy looking for his favorite birds , 4. Parrot spotting , 5. Checking out the birds, 6. Nasty glucose drink