Violaceous

My Mom

I just wanted to show off these cute, cute clothes that my Mom made for Lucy! I love them, I really like the prints with the contrasting trims. I think the Beatrix Potter print on the overalls is so cute too, it even has matching Jemima Puddleduck buttons! I'm surprised and honored that my mom was able to make these with everything she's been going through, so I really appreciate them and Luce will too! For those of you who don't know, my mom has been battling a difficult type of breast cancer for 6-9 months. Chemotherapy treatments have been successful in shrinking it though, and she only has one more chemotherapy treatment before having a mastectomy in March. I just wanted to say how proud of her I am! She's been fighting this really hard and doing everything she needs to do to make sure it doesn't spread. This has been really hard on her and on the whole family this year (but especially her), and I'm hoping after surgery for a better year ahead. What I want for her is relaxation, health, happiness, sunny days, good chocolate, good books, long naps, lots of peaceful knitting, easy driving and no more worrying and stress! I love you Mom - We're all really proud of you!

He's so nice!

Whew! Valentine's Day at work is over. Boy do holidays at a floral shop get crazy. It's fun as long as everyone is in good spirits (like today) but you get so so tired both physically and mentally plus you're creatively zapped. It's funny; my hands are chapped, I have a sore muscle on the underside of my arm from my elbow to my wrist, and my abs hurt! Go figure. I'm not really wanting to complain though, I love my job. :-) I wouldn't change anything. I wish I had photos but I was so in the moment I just completely forgot. What I really want to talk about is Dustin, my awesome husband! He's the best guy ever. He's been watching Lucy the last 3 days all day on his days off. Last night he gave me Valentines presents early, he gave me a really nice necklace from this designer- It's an organic looking square shaped pendant with a little diamond on a white gold background and chain. I'm not describing it well but it's very pretty and very much my style. He also gave me roses and some chocolates from a fancy chocolate place in Bend called Chocolat et Gateaux.  This morning he got me an almond americano (my favorite), took me to work, took Luce to storytime at the library, picked me up from work, took care of Luce all night, made dinner, poured me wine, got Luce ready for bed, set up "Across the Universe" for us to watch tonight, and asked if he could go get me ice cream from Baskin Robbins. I'm very impressed. :-) So I just wanted to brag a little and embarrass him on the internet. And it's not what he bought me, it's just that he knew this week would be tough at work and he did everything I needed or wanted him to do without me even having to hint. He's so nice! Here are more pictures of Lucy at storytime, I still haven't gone and it looks kind of chaotic with all those babies. Lucy's in the middle in the white sweater.

<----- The aftermath, sleeping with 3(!) pacis.

Today and yesterday

Yesterday Lucy's Auntie Monica came over and we went to downtown Bend to shop. It was a nice winter day to walk around outside (meaning the sidewalks were pretty much cleared of snow and ice and it was above freezing). There are so many new places down there! I tend to go for walks around there a lot during the spring, summer and fall. It's one of my favorite places to go in central Oregon. I love to get a coffee or bubble tea, go into some shops and walk through the park. Dustin and I have been doing that since high school, it's one of his favorite things to do too. It's fun to take Lucy in her stroller too because there's so much for her to look at! I always miss it in the winter because it's just too dang cold to walk around most of the time. You have to bundle up and I always feel bad bringing little Luce out when it's like that. Anyways, we had fun! We got Dustin's V-Day present (can't say what because he reads this and can be snoopy - Hi Honey!) and Monnie got a bubble tea at Townshend's Tea House which they just opened here. It was very nice inside! I guess it started in Portland but I'd never been there before. We also went to Iron Horse which Monica thinks is creepy but I am totally in love with. It's one of my favorite places. They have the weirdest assortment of stuff, I have lots of these rusty star nailhead things tacked up around my house and that's where I got them all. I've had them for a few years.

Today I just had a nice quiet day with Lucy. Other than one of our fence boards falling down (again!!!) and our dogs getting in a fight through the fence board hole with the neighbor dog. Again. And yet again I had to leave Lucy in her high chair and nail the stupid thing back up in my pajamas. This happens weekly. We have a good fence too! My theory is that all the boards and their nails are just so old and this is the winter where they've had it.  Dustin has probably nailed up 25 or more fence boards this winter. But  otherwise today was nice and peaceful. We went to the library to get some books and movies and during Lucy's nap I watched a movie and made some more paper cuttings of hearts. I love doing those so much! They're relaxing and therapeutic but you don't have to think much about what you're doing. I got some patterns here. They're outlines on nice paper that you cut out with an exacto knife. Monica's take on doing this was "Why? Why would you even do that?" and "You have a weird idea of what's fun." She's right! But I do love them.