Friday, September 9, 2011

....inspired.....

....Stefan has asked me if I am pregnant several times over the last few weeks.....the answer is an emphatic no, but I must say that I have an itch for change......and it's usually only when I have a bun in the oven that I feel this motivated to clean, organize, or shake it up, if you will....

....granted, we have had our fair share of rain....there was Irene....and this past week it was the remnants of a wet, stubborn one named Lee; causing all of us to be a little more crafty than usual......


....but this week has been different......

....we have gone from this.....


....to this....

      ....Brody was overdo for some wall space.....
.....we have said goodbye to this...


.....and hello to this.....



.....and it's not uncommon to find this around our walls....


.....and if they gave out samples of wallpaper, that too would be plastered in our foyer because I am determined to spice up our entry way and give it a bit of a face lift.....

....and for those that know me well.....like my husband.....crafty, artistic, and creative are not words that would roll off the tongue in describing me.....so Stefan scratches his head and asks, what has gotten into you?.....

.....maybe it's the shift in the upcoming new season.....maybe it's the fact that the girls both had their open houses at school today and I thrive on new routines and change.....maybe it's been all of the indoor play and hurricane parties.....

    ....Hurricane Irene brought building friends together.....
     ....and it also brought every toy we own out of their resting places....
      ....too tired to pick up.....
                               ...oh, hello Barbie's shoe that has been missing for months.....we have finally found you......

....but all of this drive for change has been brewing for a while....weeks ago, I decided to take a trip to Michaels to buy my necessities for changing our hallway.....our route was looking something like this and I was dead set on making it a fun adventure since Stefan was away that weekend on business.....


....a few blocks over, a few blocks up and then across the park....not a huge ordeal to get there, but certainly a big errand.....2.25 miles each way, which really isn't that much considering our main mode of transportation is walking......I guesstimated a 45 min walk there and home, and 30 min to buy a simple, easy supply list......if suburbia Moms could take their three kids to Michaels for a few items, so could I.....

....we weren't gone for two hours, we were gone for seven...

.....I'm not sure if I should begin retelling this trip starting off with the explosive diaper that occurred on our block two minutes after leaving, the pitstop three times in Central Park because Brody was basically hungry all day, or the decision that neither one of the girls was going to properly ride the kick board of the stroller anymore, so they sat as we cruised our route.....stopping every 50 feet, of course, to change positions because a kick board is not made for sitting.....


....or maybe I should rehash the part about how I bribed the girls with coloring books and ice cream for good behavior in the store since NYC does not have shopping carts in places like Michaels....the aisles can barely fit my stroller, let alone a shopping cart....those kind of inconveniences leave Mommas with unconstrained kids in art stores.....




...Callie's newest saying upon realizing I have discovered she has ditched her shoes......"shoes just aren't cumftible, Mom".....

....however, they scored their coloring books and ice cream before I realized we accidentally shop lifted two glue sticks.....that made for another conversation that would take an entire blog post.....

....I ran out of snacks, lunch time came when we were in a neighborhood I knew nothing about, we made two potty stops in random places throughout our journey, it was 90 degrees out and strollers have no AC, the blue spray paint for my picture frames never ended up in my shopping bag, which I realized after we got home from our 7 hour errand; and there were many times I asked myself out loud, why do I care this much for changing up my hallway?.....

....but there is beauty to be found in every adventure....even the ones you didn't ask for....




....oh yes.....and Brody wore just a diaper for most of the day because I did not have a change of clothes for him after the second blow out.....


....however, after being welcomed into our cool adobe after such a trek, we washed up and the girls did their thing so I could get started on mine....


.....breaking ever so often as Elsie and I taught Callie how to use scissors.....


                             ...so determined....

                               ....she did it!.....
.....all of us content in our projects and being home after such a day.....until we heard the rain spontaneously pouring down.....sending me in a complete frenzy since my newly painted frames were outside drying from their fresh coat of the exact color blue I had in my head when I imagined what these frames would look like paint job......

....I secured Brody in the stroller, threw shoes on the girls, hopped in the elevator, waiting impatiently as it slowly descended, ordered the girls to stay in the dry part of our basement, ran through the courtyard in the storm, arrived around back only to find my frames were gone....

.....my neighbors are some good peeps....

....being ordered to wait in the dry area when Mommy gets to run in the rain isn't very fun.....so we were all soaked....along with our frames....but everything was salvageable.....


.....leading Stefan back to the same question, especially after hearing about the Michaels escapade....what has gotten into you?.....

....and sometimes, we're hit with the motivation bug....sometimes, like a runners high or the yogi's yen, we are calmed into a place of initiating change that will continue to add fuel to the fire that burns within.....when the creativity brews, the shifting of one state to the next takes place.....or quite simply, sometimes it's just because we need a project so we can stand on our perch and holler out, yeah, baby, I did it.....we all need that sometimes and maybe I needed a seal of validation since the last few months have been relishing in the adjustment of a baby....

....regardless, I am in a place of constant fire right now......I am restless, constantly looking for ways to improve my dwelling harbor.....my home....and it feels good to channel this twitchy phase into some fresh, new looks.....my outlet right now is a creative place that only visits me on rare occasions.....so I will take it, embrace it and see what continues to transcend in our beloved 1050 square feet.....

....but for the record.....like Momma, like daughter.....Elsie found some discarded pictures that I decided not to use for Brody's baby book and she has decorated some of our bare walls too......



....and the decor continues even as we jaunt outside for errands....our man has his fair share of friends to keep him company thanks to his sisters.....

                                 
 .....inspiration in its finest form.....


 ....enjoy the weekend....

....hope your inspiration finds you.....