The Long Way Home

Hallelujah!

Our long journey home has ended and we are finally where we are supposed to be.

A few things I've been reminded of lately:

*Drinking hot tea in a hot bubble bath is the cure for the common anything

*Having an attached garage saves your lower back (groceries + toddler= heavy)

*Having a sparkly new washer/dryer makes doing laundry downright delightful

*Warm homemade bread is damn good

We moved a few weeks ago, two garages down. But the difference in the two homes is vast and wonderful. We now have a bathtub that isn't located in Jude's nursery, a garage that opens to the house, a new washer/dryer of our very own and... I found my old bread maker! (I don't think we "lost anything in the move," but I sure found some stuff.) Not to mention this new place is twice as big with no spiral staircase, no hard tile floor and has an indoor garden atrium right smack in the middle of the house. We are very happy birds in this new nest of ours. Our cats seem to enjoy sunbathing in the stream of sunlight that pours from the huge windows on our vaulted ceilings.

Around noon our whole exceedingly pale family needs sunblock indoors (roman blinds are in the works). Here is a picture I took of Jude and I in front of a vintage stained glass window in our living room. Looks like we're outdoors, doesn't it? We might as well be.

Jude helped us unpack and decide what to keep and what to get rid of. He was really cut-throat about it, he's not a fan of clutter.

"Hmmm... Mom hasn't listened to this CD in ages... *toss*..."

And sometimes he thought it was a better idea to undo something I had just done, such as "reorganize" my shoe closet. Outside the closet.

March flew by, we stayed crazy busy with home renovations and decorating. Now that we are settled, April is the start of our new life and is already filled with playdates, a wedding, a baby shower, a 30th birthday party, two Easter egg hunts, and a new play gym membership for Jude... dare I say we actually have a busy social calender coming up?

My newest project: starting my own local Mom's Club. After searching online for something that I was excited about and coming up short, I decided to organize a group of hip chick mamas in the area to join forces against the June Cleavers of the world. I'm not a "loving every minute of it" mom, seeking same. Not that I don't love motherhood, I really do. I just don't love the messes, the tantrums, the night-wakings, the separation anxiety... in other words, I love most of it, just not all of it. But man is it difficult to find honest, fun women that aren't constantly comparing their toddler's shoe size and vocabulary. I can't pretend to have all of my ducks in a row, because they just aren't. I may have even misplaced a few ducks. I'm not wearing a Juicy Couture velour track suit and I probably forgot to pack a snack. I just want good conversation with creative people and a fun time for Jude. So, the search begins. I'm hoping to produce an intimate group of about 10 girls to kick around with once a week, and hopefully inspire each other to be honest and supportive. If only my girls from Babycenter lived next door.

Here are a few recent pictures of Jude, mostly taken in our indoor atrium. It's pristine, even lighting almost all day long... score!

So, there's this blanket.

The word of the day today on Sesame Street was Persistent. "It pays to be persistent!" one of the furry monsters said, after explaining in very simple terms what the word meant. Which reminded me of a blanket. But before I move on to the ridiculous story of this blanket, I must mention how much I love Sesame Street. Jude and I watch it about twice a week and I find myself glued to this show. I've always loved the Muppets but I'm amazed at how creative, artistic and entertaining they continue to make every episode. Jude lounges on my lap with snacks and his sippy and thoroughly enjoys his program. It's the only TV show he has ever been interested in and that's fine by me. I love their attention to detail and the constant flow of refreshed creative energy. Jack Black and a hilarious spoof of 30 Rock were on today's episode. My mom said I watched Sesame Street 3 times in a row every day when I was little. That's 3 hours straight. Hmmmm, sounds like someone was letting Big Bird do a little babysitting...

So back to the blanket. I have a mild obsession with this blog (Emily, you constantly amaze & inspire me) and when I saw the pictures she'd taken of her little son with one of these blankets I immediately had to have one. I fell in love with how colorful, cozy and rustic it was...so instantly full of personality. I quickly skimmed down her post to read that they were sold at TJ Maxx stores which I was very optimistic about since those stores are like my second home (loads of my eBay boutique inventory comes from the TJ stores). I thought of at least 10 locations that I could hit in a 20 mile radius. Emily had to drive to 4 stores to find her blanket, and mentioned that they'd become the next big obsession within the photography world. She'd posted a link to a forum dedicated to a bunch of photographers desperately trying to find these blankets for themselves and each other across the country. Here is a portrait on Flickr that also helped inspired my craze: a sweet little newborn propped on the blanket. Anyway, I threw Jude in the stroller and headed out. To make an incredibly long story short, I will list the TJ Maxx-owned stores I went to before finding this one lonely, glorious, yarney chenille blanket.



TJ Maxx~ Fountain Valley, Orange, La Habra, Fullerton, Walnut, Chino, Tustin, Anaheim Hills, Anaheim, Brea.

Marshalls~ Buena Park, Huntington Beach, Tustin, La Mirada, Chino, Irvine, Laguna Hills.

Home Goods~ Walnut, Yorba Linda, Chino.

I found this one hanging all by itself, crammed in the back corner of a tiny Marshalls in Garden Grove. That made a total of 21 stores I went to (within 3 days, not all at once... there are not enough toddler snacks in the world to make that venture possible) before finding the only blanket of its kind in all of Southern California. I guess there are a lot of photographers here. Anyway, persistence does indeed pay off. I was a crazed lunatic on the hunt for my Holy Grail and when I saw it hanging there, it was lit by a single beam of light from the heavens, backed by an angel choir. It was the second happiest day of my life (the first, of course, being when I found a Luna Luna Copenhagen outfit at Nordstrom's Last Chance store in Arizona for $2.97).
You probably think I'm insane, but I prefer "passionate."

I got it home and started noticing its many imperfections, possibly why it was still unsold. It took me 3 episodes of Millionaire Matchmaker to mend the torn chenille and fully reinforce both ends of the loose yarn fringe. It's now hanging on a special blanket hanger covered in plastic. I have big plans for this blanket. It will hang in a future photo studio someday, when that dream of mine is realized. But for now it sits quietly in my closet and makes me so very happy every time I see it.


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