Oh Deer

Thanks to the handy-work of Eric's mom, Cora is now the cutest little deer around!

 It's a teeny bit big right now, but that's perfect - hopefully that means she'll be able to wear it next winter, too!!

Souk Rug

Several months ago, Eric's aunt gave us a souk rug. GAVE IT TO US FOR FREE. Did you know that if I could have any rug in the world, it would be this. exact. rug? No? Well, this. exact. rug. is fab.u.lous. I looooove it.

This particular rug was previously a floor model at Restoration Hardware and it needed a good cleaning, but since I was pregnant and useless when we received it, it just hung out in our basement until last week. Then, last week, I rented a carpet cleaner and shampooed the daylights out of it.

If you've researched anything about cleaning wool rugs on the interwebs, it's supposedly a really bad idea to get wool wet. It's best to get them professionally cleaned. However, I took the risk, shampooed the thing, and it looks pretty stinking awesome, if I do say so myself. I went over it probably 6 or 7 times and left it to dry overnight - with every fan in our house blowing on it. It does still smell a little like a wet sheep.... but I'm hoping that will fade with time :).

Look at how shiny and clean it looks!!!!

After it was dry, I hauled this thing upstairs all by myself, which was probably a really stupid idea, but I blame Cora for that lapse in judgement. She was sitting in her highchair, watching me struggle up the stairs, laughing her head off. Her cheering prompted me to suck it up, and amidst cries of, "I am woman, hear me roar!" I managed to get it into the living room all by myself.

I like it a lot, but I think we'll periodically switch this one out with Eric's Big Lebowski rug. His favorite rug in the spring, mine in the fall... that seems fair....

Ergo-Eric

And the gifts keep rolling in.... people are so nice! Well, in this case, my parents are super nice (which we knew); they sent us an Ergo-baby!

I'm pretty sure that this is one of Eric's favorite gifts that we've received so far. He was pretty excited to try it out....

..... and he doesn't look thrilled here, but I think the cat liked it pretty well, too. He kept tucking his head down on Eric's chest and trying to fall asleep. If Eric hadn't been galloping around the house in glee, he probably would have succeeded :)

Thanks, Parents!

Thank You

Just got this adorable little outfit in the mail today. It's difficult to tell from the picture, but the fabric has tiny grey puckered dots - super cute. It's so soft and I'm completely in love with the little pocket and hood. Unfortunately, it didn't say who it was from... So if you're reading this - whoever you are - thank you! I love it!

Proof that Eric Once was Small

Well folks, there's hope! Our wee one will be clothed!

Last week, a friend gave us a box of baby clothes, and yesterday we received a couple more boxes from Eric's parents. The boxes from Eric's family were pretty fun to go through; though it was difficult to imagine that Eric (and Adam and Joe) were ever that small....

There were a lot of amazing 80s onesies:

(haha! kind of cute!)
But there were also some really nice sweaters and hats.

I'm realizing this is a terrible picture, but these were a few of my favorite things from Eric's parents. I looooooove that white hat and sweater and can't you just picture a darling little Nordic baby in that blue sweater and red hat? So cute!

It's pretty amazing how generous people are; we literally haven't had to buy anything for Baby B, yet. Though I may have to get a couple of things for the kiddo, just for fun. Maybe I'll wait until after it's born...?

Generosity

Last night, a few of my lady friends threw me a baby shower. Not to brag on my friends, but it was probably the best baby shower in the history of the world ;) There was hot cider, apple cake, fruit trays in the shape of Elmo and Big Bird, darling decorations, and a ton of awesome presents.

This morning, the middle bedroom looked like this:

So. Much. Stuff!!

I am completely overwhelmed and totally grateful for all the wonderful gifts people gave us. A few ladies even pitched in and got us our car seat. Pretty amaze-balls.

The funny thing is... I don't think people have any idea what kind of clothes to get (or, more likely, they can't find anything that would work) for a child whose gender is unknown... besides a few white onesies, there were absolutely no clothes. A million books, but no clothing. Our child will be very well read and completely nude. Haha :)

I probably shouldn't... but I have to admit I have a few favorite gifts. Chrissie made Baby Brindle the most adorable stuffed bunny in the history of the world (Made it. I love it so much!), and Hanna got us the viking mobile from our Amazon registry. I am really stoked to put it together and hang it tonight.

Wish me luck sorting through all these presents; it's going to take a while!!

A Low-Key Weekend

It rained here all weekend so we found ourselves puttering around the house, finishing the odd project, watching football, and cleaning.

Saturday morning we assembled the rocking moose we purchased at Ikea over Labor day. It used to be red, but of course I couldn't just leave it be. I'm not sure how well the white paint will hold up, but I am so glad I painted it. I absolutely loooove it, now!

 Also this weekend.... my dear darling husband bought me a dresser! It was another Craigslist find and I was about to walk away (I'm so cheap) when Eric told the lady, "we'll take it" and promptly loaded it into our car. He is too nice to me! I must say, it is so great to have a dresser. So great! Especially one that looks this good!!!!!

Nursery Progress

This weekend, we pulled carpet out of the middle bedroom and moved in all the "kid" furniture. It doesn't sound like a lot, but removing carpet, cleaning and waxing the floor, getting rid of glue-on trim and then replacing it with real trim took the entire day Saturday. We still need to paint and install quarter-round, but the quarter-round will wait until we refinish floors and I'm sure I can rope my mom into helping paint the next time they come to visit. Right, Mom? :)

We really need better lighting in this room (floor lamp, night light, and a dimmer switch, am I right?) but other than that, I'm not sure how much accessorizing we will actually do.... I don't really want to buy a lot more stuff, especially since I like the pieces we have now. We love our rocking chair - it's sooooo comfy that Eric wants to keep it in the living room until the kid arrives - and that play mat - while a bit mature for an infant - was something that we both got excited about on our trip to Ikea. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up playing with it at some point! Though right now it's being used to protect the floor from our new favorite chair.

And our crib... cute, no? Eric's aunt scored us this beauty (so nice of her!!!!!) and I am quite excited about it. It is a really quality piece of furniture! And it was super easy to put together. I'm proud to say I did it all by myself!

This dresser was mine growing up and it will be perfect for our kiddo; we're planning on just throwing a changing pad on top instead of buying an entire changing table.

I think the only piece of furniture lacking is a bookshelf. This kid is going to read/be read to a lot so it would be nice to have something to store books and random small playthings. Eventually.

Eric also installed a new blind in our bathroom this weekend. I'd like to show you a nice picture of it, but I don't have one because it hates me and refuses to roll up for me. It loves Eric, it cooperates perfectly for him, but I have not yet mastered the skill.

 Haha! It will probably stay this way until Eric gets home tonight.

Looking forward to next weekend wherein we can tackle a few more projects. And the weeks to come. I think even Eric likes "nesting" a little.

Patio Addition

Thanks in part to a birthday gift from my in-laws, we now have a new fire pit for our back patio!  

I found this beaut on walmart.com; it's eerily similar to this one on Design Within Reason and a million times cheaper.

I foresee a lot of s'mores and late night, fireside chats this summer.

New Things

We have a few new things around our place....

I finally found a frame for my print from Karolin Schnoor on Etsy, we now have a lighter bedspread for the summer months, and this just in, we have new windows and a new sliding door!!! The weather has continued to be a bit spotty so our siding is still in limbo, but I promise to post photos as soon as everything is complete. Can't wait!

Oh yeah... and then there's this....

Which won't technically arrive until sometime around the first week of December. Prepare for this blog to become a cesspool of cribs, clothing, and super cool baby toys. Things be getting crazy in the Brindle house!

Big Green Monster

My friend just bought the MOST AMAZING DINING SET EVER off of Craigslist.

Um... yeah. It's amazing. THOSE CHAIRS!!!!

Swoon.

I'm very happy for my friends, but I will be honest; I plan on seducing their dining set. I will woo it with Danish Oil and furniture wax. I will gently polish it and whisper to it how lovely it is. I will slowly chip away at their relationship until suddenly, one day, my dear friends will arrive home to find their dining room empty save for a note informing them that their dining set has run away to live with me.

I am a terrible person.

I haven't been this jealous since fourth grade when Kayla Stellar got a haircut and I suddenly realized she was pretty.

Pray for my soul.

New Drapes

I got new drapes for the living room window. They're navy and velvety. I like 'em. There was just too much white going on. They seem to add some warmth while bringing out the richness of Eric's Big Lebowski rug.

These are the worst pictures ever, so please just use your imagination.

Mmm, velvety.

Over the Weekend: Little Changes

A while back I ordered some new drawer pulls for the little dresser we have in the dining room; they arrived last week and Eric installed them this weekend. I really like them. They look much better than the cheap plastic-y ones that were on there before.

Eric also let me get another plant. It's a fiddle leaf fig. 

I'm thrilled with it! I've been looking for one for a while, but none of the plant stores on our side of town had one. We finally made it up to Gainan's in the heights and voila! They had a couple! And they were on sale! So gorgeous. I think I need to get a stool for it to sit on, though; right now it's a bit hidden behind our couch and I want everyone to see it the instant they walk through the door. :)

Weekend: Lighting

Our living room now has a ceiling light!

It's not exactly what I wanted (it kind of blends into the ceiling), but I much prefer it to the hole that was there before. 

Light!

Accessorizing: Ikea Trip

We've installed a few new things around the house since our return from Denver. I've hung some things on the wall, we now have curtains in our living room, and our den is (nearly) complete with the addition of a new, cozy rug. 

We can now arrive on time for social functions! And hang out in our living room at night without our neighbors seeing us! And lay by the fire in comfort! I really, really like that rug! Progress, people! Progress!

Weekend: Whoops

I totally failed to post anything last week. Oops. Work was really busy, we still don't have the internet at home, and my husband is finally back to his normal work schedule which means that when I wasn't creating ads or sleeping I was hanging out with my favorite man. And by hanging out I mean bugging him and hugging him and making him tell me how much he loves me and gross mushy stuff like that.

I have gained a rug in the past couple of weeks...which I'm actually kind of annoyed about. Someone threw the packaging away before I could return it. I'm not going to name any names but it wasn't me and it most definitely wasn't the cat. 

I mean, it's fine, just not awesome. And it's black. Black is officially the DUMBEST color a rug could be. At least it's reversible.....to white. Oh goody; the second dumbest rug color.

I so hate not being able to return things!

Mas Endtables

I try to hit up the used furniture store at least once every other week. Usually, a walk-through takes five minutes and I leave empty-handed. Yesterday, however, my walk-through took five minutes and I left with a giant grin and a car full of stuff. The stuff being these:

TWO of these!

I love them so much! They each had a slab of glass on top, which means they are pretty much pristine. You cannot beat $17 each! Perfect!

Now to figure out where to put them....
I guess I could always sell them on ebay, make a few extra bucks....

All I want for Christmas...

I know it's a little early to be thinking about this, but all I want for Christmas is a shopping trip to Ikea and this:

A grow-your-own crystals kit. Haha! Amazing! :)

Stairs! Rug! Nutella!

Well holy smokes. I haven't posted anything this week.

This is what has been going down....

1) Awesome football watching with Nick & Hanna in Bozeman. Cats win!
2 & 3) Stair-making in the den. Still working on this. Though the treads are now polyurethaned and are waiting to be installed.
4 & 5) Dope rug. Which Eric's father gave me. Which was super nice. I adore it. I have been coveting similar rugs for a while but cannot afford them. Apparently his DOG was using this for a bed and when Eric told him I liked rugs like that, he showed up at our house and handed this one over. That is kind of a big deal. He really likes that dog. However, I am thinking that everything is going a bit BROWN in this area, so there might be some chair cushion fabric changes coming soon. And possibly some paint application to one of those end tables? And possibly a light-colored soft and squishy bigger rug to also live in this room. You can layer rugs, right? Or have more than one in a room? Yeah. You can. I'm doing it. Gosh I hate buying rugs; they're so expensive.....

On the completely indulgent side of things, I bought Nutella at Costco a week ago. Biggest. Mistake. Ever. I now have two giant vats of a completely addictive substance hanging out in my cupboard. And Eric is leaving me this weekend (for a wedding). My weekend will probably involve the following:

Or just straight up this:

Haha! Just kidding.

I'm actually hoping to finish my dining chairs this weekend. I am halfway through sanding my third chair, so completing that project would totally be doable this weekend. If I avoid putting on sweatpants, that is.

Weekend: Bike Ride

Eric and a few of his buddies did the MS 150 bike ride this weekend.

They won the award for "team spirit"

And then five of us (and three bicycles) crammed into a tiny hotel room.

But before meeting the guys in Red Lodge, I got a new end table. At a garage sale I happened to drive past. For $3.

I LOVE the base of this thing. So pretty.

Ah! Love!
The top, however, is gross laminate stuff. I would not have purchased this thing if it had been much more than $3. I figured for $3 I could clean up the base, buy a new hunk of wood for the top, and have a brand new, super awesome table! Even if I never replace the top, I still have a new, super awesome table! Yay projects! Yay weekend! :)