Gee Whiz, What a Building

My office building is up for an award, so I thought it was a good excuse to brag about the fact that I work at a place called the "Gee Whiz Factory." Totally why I applied there in the first place.

Anyway, yes Trozzolo is up for an award - People's Choice award in the American Institute of Architects Kansas City Design Excellence Awards. Being up for an award is not a new thing for our company or our cool building (again, just taking this opportunity to brag), but would appreciate if you would vote for us nonetheless. :) Visit: http://www.aiakc.org/vote/ 

Speaking of work, I've been jamming out to a lot of Pandora at the office. My station rotation lately has been Mumford & Sons, The Head & the Heart, and The Lumineers. Ok, and the occasional Taylor Swift. I'm sure you've all heard The Lumineers' song "Ho Hey." It's pretty great. Another one of theirs I just heard for the first time that I love:

Will try to have a few house update pics for you soon!

The Monday List

• If you have a kid (or several kids, actually) to buy a small Christmas gift for, may I suggest this Mr. Men and Little Miss Christmas set?  You get 5 cute books (I haven't read them yet, but I think all of the Mr. Men/Little Miss books have a pretty good message), a holiday card, some cute cardboard ornaments, and some stickers in an awesome little box.  Right now it's about $9!  (It was actually only $7 when I got it last week, they must've realized what a treat this was):

To buy on Amazon

• I strained a muscle in my neck last Thursday night, to the point where I couldn't turn it to the left all weekend.  This injury occurred during an agressive game of peekaboo.
• It was 70 degrees here in DC yesterday, but last week it was pretty chilly, which resulted in this:

Hat from Boden.

• It's been exactly one year today since we found out we were having a baby...what a crazy year it's been!  I feel like a very lucky duck.
• I'm pretty excited to start listening to Christmas music in a week and a half!
• We had some friends over for dinner Saturday night and I made this awesome pear crisp from the Pioneer Woman.  I made it in four individual little dishes (so I baked them a little less than the recipe calls for) and with no pecans.  They were DELICIOUS and made a nice fall dessert:

• Do you watch Top Chef?  Henry and I love to watch it, and Top Chef Seattle started last week (one of my favorite cities!).  I didn't like the format of the first episode to decide who will be in the competition, but I guess it usually takes me a few episodes to be invested and care about the contestants.
• And last, but not least, Nora and her gang:

All of her friends are Jellycat animals - we love them!

Have a fun week!

IHWSH - Cards

Last weekend Katie spotted this gem, which was clearly meant for our blog (M2B!):

We've done snail mail for IHWSH before, but we're doing it again (it's our blog and we do what we want!)...

Katie's Picks:
1. Yo-yo - Etsy
2. T.Hanks - Blue Barn House
3. Unicorny - Etsy
4. John Jacob - Etsy

Jayne's Picks:
5. Monogram Confetti - Sugar paper
6. Arrowhead stationery - Minted
7. Holiday photo card - Hallmark
8. Soulmatey - Hammerpress Studio - KC

Baby Boy, You Stay On My Mind

Over the weekend I was so lucky to hang out with my great friend Megan and attend her baby shower - it was so fun!  I also got to visit with her lovely Mama, her husband Alex, and their pug, The Captain.  Megan and I share a love of TV, and within the first 30 minutes of being together, we were already discussing how much we love the new show "Nashville."  It's so great!  And Megan then led me to my new favorite Youtube video, of two sisters who are on "Nashville":

Aren't they AMAZING?  They have a lot of other songs you can find on Youtube by searching "Lennon and Maisy" (love their names too!)

Megan's condo is really nice and she has done some cool decorating - I grabbed pics of a few awesome ideas:

This is a framed tea towel (of Chapel Hill landmarks, so of course I love it) - what a great idea!  The mat and frame make it really look nice. 

This is their office (love the pug art and the bright yellow lamp).  Megan picked out this awesome stick-on wallpaper that looked amazing with the wainscoting in the room.  This might be something I could talk Henry into because it just peels right off when you're done loving it.

She made these cool jewelry frames!  She just painted the plain frames around 3 little cork boards and added fancy paper to the cork (I think glue or tape would work for this) and used push-pins to organize her awesome jewelry.  I really need some of this organization/action at our house.

Close-up.  You can see that she used special push-pins too.

Me, Megan, and her Mama before her shower.  Wish I had some pictures from the shower, it was so cute!  My favorite party details were the book plates with The Captain on them, the one-of-a-kind Friday Night Lights onesie she was gifted, and the blue nail polish favors (it's a boy!).

Thanks for such a fun weekend, Lady O!

Shave time. Shave money.

Please excuse the (bleeped) language in this, but I figure a lot of the guys I know - especially those I'm related to - will likely be interested in "shaving time" and "shaving money." This is a real thing, and a guy I know at work really does save quite a bit of money by being in the Dollar Shave Club.

I thought the ending of this, with the American flag, was appropriate for election day? 

So this past weekend, I had a blast showing my new (actually, not so new anymore) city to a great friend of mine from Dallas. Shannon and I did it all in 48 hours: First Friday in the Crossroads, the City Market, the Plaza, West Bottom antique shopping, Westport and lots and lots of great food. Plus, of course, an in depth tour of the new house. First non-family house guest - pretty big deal!

Antique shopping in West Bottoms - First Friday weekend

Happy voting! And happy, happy birthday to my mother-in-law Matsy!

The Best Baptism Gifts

Not only did Nora have a great ceremony and party for her baptism, she also got some special gifts.  She got some super cute new clothes and her first Bible.  She was also gifted with these lovely items:

On the left from Grhonda and Grandbob (Uncle Sam got a "Godfather" tee to match) and on the right from Aunt Jayne and Uncle Dac.

An ADORABLE quilt made from this fabric by a new friend of mine, from Tia Mia.

A tiny little cross necklace from Grhonda and Grandbob.

The first charm for her charm bracelet from Uncle Sam (the other side shows a Baptism).

...And this GORGEOUS print from Jayne and Dac and pillow that I love so much, embroidered by my awesome Aunt Carolyn!

 

We are lucky ducks.  And here are a few recent pics of my little duck:

She started rolling over (constantly) last week and this was taken one morning when I went in to get her out of bed -she was SO PROUD of herself for rolling over in her crib.

This is her special, handknit sweater from a great friend of mine (thank you Chris!)  It is so sweet and cozy on her.

Typical NJ.

IHWSH - Scarves



We have a scarf addiction.  And the cool Fall weather is only perpetuating this "problem."  Check out some of the pretties we wish were around our necks in this week's "I'll Have What She's Having":

 



Katie's Picks:

1. Stripe Merino Scarf - jcrew
2. Color-blocked Infinity Scarf - Old Navy
3. IKAT Loop Scarf - AEO
4. Infinity Scarf - Etsy

Jayne's Picks:

     5.  Aztec Border - Topshop
     6.  Horseplay Scarf - Madewell
     7.  Coiled Chambray Scarf - Anthro
     8.  Scarf - H&M

And a fun pom scarf DIY we want to try:

Source