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I feel like our dining room needs something. Maybe a rug? I’ll try to get some pics if I remember. I know what you’re all thinking - “I’ll be over here, on the edge of my seat” (name that show) **

**(edited to add, that while I was looking for some curtain ideas for our laundry room, I stumbled across these curtains from Pier One, and I cannot stop thinking about them for our dining room - a sign that I genuinely love them. That would require bigger changes in that room, however, then I was planning. This is all news to my husband, reading this, by the way. Hi Anth)! 

I also am thinking of giving our laundry room a makeover. It would be a weekend project. Or 2-3 day long middle-of-the-week project, since all of my days look exactly alike. Think paint/take down unnecessary cabinets/curtains/paint wire shelving black. Again, totally riveting.  

Inspo: 

This idea started when I realized that we probably have some paint left from our guest room, Sherwin Williams Silvermist

Parenting 

What adult films themselves playing with toys for YouTube? I get it, these weirdos make 6 figures, but these videos majorly creep me out. I don’t even know how my little one stumbled upon them, but these kinds of videos (tutorials?) put her into the deepest trance. V disturbing. Have any of you seen the Paw Patrol Morning Routine clip, where the grown man asks the dolls if they “tee teed” in their diapers?! <— (A sentence that I hope to never type again). My brother and his wife have taken away all YouTube privileges in their house. I can see why. Not to mention the selling out aspect of it, as I sit here, waiting for a sponsorship to roll in... 

As one of the all-time greats once said were people doing coke in your bathroom “never hustle a hustler”

I don’t know a ton about parenting, or what’s right and what’s wrong, but I do aim to instill love and confidence every second that I can. I’m hoping this will set us up for some easy-ish adolescent and teenage years. What I do know, is the simplest way to make Lyla feel loved and secure, is to simply be totally engaged. Most days, I put my phone away and sit on the floor and play, just have little chats, or explore outside together. Simple things, where I try to be as present as possible. Some days it takes effort, if I’m being real. It doesn’t seem like much, but from what I can tell, that is huge in a 2 year old’s world. This is just something that I’ve been thinking a lot about, lately. 

Health 

I wish that I cared as much about my size, as I did my house. That’s not to say that I don’t put in the effort, but it definitely doesn’t come naturally to me, to care much about it. Lately, I’ve been playing around with Intermittent Fasting, and figuring out which way to follow it fits into all of our lifestyles, since we all try to eat together, etc. So far, I really enjoy it and find it much more realistic than, say, planning out 6 small meals a day. It’s just a good fit for me. I just need that will power at night, after everyone goes to bed, and I want to decompress with my shows and a snack. 

As far as exercise, we’ve been walking a ton, but otherwise, I’ve been terrible. I’m much happier when I’m working out regularly, for so many reasons. I need to figure out a new sneaker situation, and I should be good to go. For me, I like to work out on a treadmill and use free weights. I have a sprint work out, that I’ve based off of some of my favorite spin classes, and when I’m consistent, it’s great. Classes, and going to a gym, just aren’t realistic right now, which is fine.  I prefer to do it alone, and listen to my jams. I have always thought that exercise is a really personal thing, and different things work for different people. Maybe writing about it, and drowning in my own narcissism, will motivate me to get a good work out in today? 

Pop Culture 

Yawn. Snooze. Streaming has taken over our lives, so not much to say, except that I’m loving Get a Room with Carson Kresley and Thom Filicia (original Queer Eye). It’s everything that I want from HGTV but don’t get - fancy decorating, with curse words and off-color jokes thrown in. I’m hoping to get into The Haunting of Hill House soon, but I’m not ready to commit to a new series. Writing about my lame thoughts takes up a ton of time. 

Hope you’re all having a good week! 

XO, Luci 

ETA: I started to write this post, before the shooting at the Synagogue in Pittsburgh. There are not enough words to express how heartbreaking it is. It is absolutely disgusting that such hate is still so present in this country. I find it embarrassing, if I’m being completely honest. My heart goes out to the Jewish community, a community that I’ve only ever known as kind, smart, and open-hearted/minded. Let’s all take a moment this week, to reflect on those that lost their lives, and their loved ones. 

Blonde Moments

Thoughts not big enough to merit their own post: 

*Since starting a little IG account for this blog, I’ve gotten a few messages and emails, on “growing” my business/account. Some of these are legit, and when the time feels right, I’ll start doing more to get out there. I’m not great though, with unsolicited advice. An email that was sent to me, felt like a list of rules on what and when to post. I’m not even sure who sent it. 

The other thing to consider is how much to feature my daughter. She’s pretty much my entire focus in life, and her CF journey can reach a lot of people out there, in a positive way. I just don’t want it to turn into an Amazing Amy/Gone Girl situation; or worse, attract the wrong kind of person. Luckily, the quality of pictures that my phone takes, almost blurs her out entirely. Someone named “missy” however, did email me to tell me to post good quality pictures. Missy, I’ll privately send you my address, so that you can send me a new iPhone that I’ll inevitably drop, or better yet, a good camera. Thanks, girl! 

*Speaking of Lyla having Cystic Fibrosis, we’re about to make a little change to our routine. I’ll be adding a teaspoon-tablespoon of heavy cream to her Pediasure. Her weight isn’t bad, but she definitely needs some “reserve” before cold season hits us. 

Another CF related thing, that I’ve realized, is that while I’m very hopeful for Lyla’s future, this is after all, a progressive disease. It can, and should, get more severe with age. I seriously think that I blocked this information out for the first 2.5 yrs of Lyla’s life. That said, with modern science and medicine, I really do think that she’ll be ok. Isn’t that what all parents do, though? Worry. 

*On the other end of that, our dog is on a diet. The saddest part is that she doesn’t understand why we aren’t giving her as many treats or table scraps as usual. 

*OK. A Star is Born. Who has seen it? Beyond, right? We were lucky enough to see it while we were in FL. It totally exceeded my already high expectations. If I was into Lady Gaga before, I’m full on obsessed now. And who doesn’t love Bradley Cooper. We’re already hoping to see it again. My parents also saw it, and my even dad was left emotional over it. That’s always my gauge if something is worth the hype - if my Dad gets into it. It’s just so well done. My mom, of course, loved it! Lyla is starting to learn the songs from it, because we have the soundtrack on so much. Although, yesterday we took a break from it, to listen to the entire Tarzan soundtrack, per Lyla’s request. It still totally holds up. I didn’t realize how well she knows the songs from it, even the random scores. Lol. 

Love their friendship 

True. 

Until next time! XO 

Home: First Floor Update Plan

We’ve been in our home for almost 1.5 years now, and I feel like I finally have a vibe/vision for what I’d like our main living areas to feel like. A little backstory on our house: it’s 12 yrs old, so some things are starting to look dated; has a 2 story living room; and if it had a designated style, I would say that it’s contemporary. We love it. A lot.

Our entire main floor, and part of the upstairs, is painted Valspar Oatbran. We kind of picked this on a whim, before we moved in, because it seemed like an easy neutral to work off. The walls from room-to-room are curved, so we could only do one color throughout. I still really like this color, but I’m now noticing how “yellow” it reads in some rooms. Personally, I do not recommend painting your walls until you’re settled in a house, but logistically, it made sense for us to paint before we got a feel for the home.

We also have our share of hand-me-down furniture. Seeing as how I spend about 80% of my time at home, I’d like it to feel more “grown up.” That also could be because I watch way too much HGTV, and have it in my head that everything must be PERFECT. For real though, I’ve always thought that a home should be a sanctuary, and reflect positively on the family that lives in said home. My Barbies’ Malibu Beach House was immaculate, growing up. 

What I think our home needs, is a few new pieces that are kid and pet friendly; some cosmetic updates to modernize this place; and some color! Everything is tan and grey right now. My husband enjoys that simplicity, so I’ll hopefully find a good balance in both of our styles. Modern coastal is what I keep going back to - bright and airy, without any actual coastal knickknacks. Think pastels to balance out the yellow in the walls, and the orange in the honey oak throughout the house. 

Living Room 

1. I’m really into Anthropologie’s home decor. These trays might look cool displayed on our mantle. Our fireplace, and surrounding wall, is a huge focal point of our first floor. Like, literally huge - takes up an entire wall

2. Same with these vases. 👆🏼 obsessed. 

3. Our kitchen nook sits between our kitchen and living room. I thought this area was pretty much done, but it’s so drab. It needs color. I have my eye on this Novagratz area rug via Walmart. Yes, Walmart. 

4. In addition to a grey sectional couch (L-shaped, from Ashley), we’ve decided that an oversized chair and ottoman will be perfect. I’m really leaning toward something in a mint or muted aqua. Right now, this one from Birch Lane is my front runner, but I know that my husband wants to be able to test it out first. I do like that this comes in an option for the Sunbrella fabric (super toddler and dog friendly), and it’s 1/3 the price of the chair that I’d really love from Restoration Hardware. I wouldn’t say that we’re really Restoration Hardware people at this phase in our lives. 

Stairwell 

Our house is pretty open, and I’ve mentioned all of the honey oak throughout. Honestly, sanding alllll of it down, and staining it (after even choosing a stain color) is too big of a feat than we’re willing to take on. We’re thinking that changing out our stair/loft balusters to wrought iron will be a great fit for this house. Pics above are just examples via Pinterest. The large photo looks similar to our house/small one is the style that I like. My husband is planning to do this one on his own. I feel like you have no idea how handy you are, until you own a house.

Kitchen 

Our kitchen is a really good size and layout. Some of the finishes seem like throwaway decisions, however - mostly the countertop and little bit of backsplash that we do have. I mentioned on IG, that I’d like to keep our current Maple cabinets, and just update the hardware (to wrought iron), and reface the uppers to do away with a scrolled inlay (v 2003). Some of my favorite looks/ideas featured above. 

As of now, these are just ideas (that I obsess over. Usually while I’m pretending to watch Hotel Transylvania 3 for the 19th time in a day).  Stay tuned, and hopefully we’ll get a start on things sooner than later! 

Happy Shame

I’m writing this post from my POS hand me down phone, on our way home from Naples, FL. Somehow, Anthony and I were able to make a quick getaway happen. We had the best time together. I mean, we always do, but it’s nice to step away from “real life” and have our biggest concern be if we should try to shovel more food in our faces for the day. The answer was always yes on this trip, by the way. 

In the airport, on our way down, we sat beside a nice woman and her adult son. We started chit chatting, and of course, we talked about Lyla. Because, obsessed. The woman mentioned her 5 year old granddaughter/niece to her son, that was traveling with her. Quickly the conversation started steering toward a trend that I’m not vibing on. It seemed that in talking about this young girl, there was a shame in praising her. It was a lot of “well she’s sassy..,” and “she’s so bossy!” You get the idea. There was also some “oh your daughter is 2? Hello, terrible twos!” Actually so far, so good. We’ve heard that age 3 is the real doozy, anyway. Get with it, Joanne. Or Sharon. Or whatever. She really was sweet, though. 

Maybe it’s because I don’t know how Lyla’s health will fare in the future, or that she might be our only child, but this kind of talk irritates me. I think that it’s really unnecessary. In talking about children, it’s especially irritating and possibly damaging, but we all do it, over everything. Think about it. I do it, too. If someone compliments a shirt that I’m wearing, I’m really quick to say something like “it’s just from Target.” You know what, Luce? What’s so bad about Target? I could stand to step it up in the fixing-up game, as it is. I digress. That’s another post for another day, to be filed under: how do stay at home moms manage to look cute? I don’t know the answer, by the way. 

I was out with friends a few weeks ago, and of course, going on about how much fun Lyla is, how good her health has been, etc. Someone piped in that we need to have another baby to take the focus off of our daughter. Umm, what. This actually snowballed into a conversation about how complicated it is for us to expand our family. Not impossible, but complicated. In addition to dwelling on that fact (Fun! Great! Easy! Cool!), I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that because I was verbally praising my 2 year old, some might see her as being on a pedestal. You know what? She probably is. Who cares?! She’s still a baby in some ways. A happy one at that. I assure you, when she does typical toddler naughty things, we correct her. We tell her no. We donate stuff that she doesn’t use, to kids who really do need it. We’re raising her on a very even playing field. That said, why is it frowned upon to speak glowingly of a loved one, especially my child. 

I notice that a lot of couples do this, as well. Honestly, Anthony and I are guilty of it

“How’s Anthony?” 

“He’s great..if I can get him to take the garbage out roflmao” *pause for fake laughter*

That’s hypothetical, by the way. He’s really good about doing things around the house. Maybe I’m afraid that it will seem like I’m bragging, if I simply say “he’s great!” end of story. Because he is great. 

It would be nice if we could all make a conscious decision to try to not feel embarrassed, if things are going well. Obviously, for me, talking positively about Lyla without shame, is a piece of cake. I probably need to work on everything else. Especially if said little girl hears what I’m saying. 

As someone who has had her share of hard things happen, I’m choosing to bask in the good while I can. Until life isn’t so easy again, for however long, because that’s how it all goes. Let’s just own the good!