But then Mum and Dad decided to come up for a visit this past Saturday. And since it was close to Valentine's Day I decided it'd be fun to turn an ordinary meal together into a little V-Day lunch/celebration. Of course we’d eat something together, so why not make it into something a little extra special, since we don’t often see each other anyways? I love having my parents in my home and treating them like special guests, because they are! And it was a good excuse to use some dishes and things that I don't often use. 
So it all spiraled from there…a few days beforehand I had taken little baby outside for some fresh air, to watch the Chickadees at the feeder. And I plucked off some tiny pinecones from a nearby tree. Suddenly some “Pining for you, Valentine” place cards popped into my head. Perfect for our special Valentine lunch. (Doesn’t all inspiration happen randomly like that? At least it does for me!) Then sometime soon after a butterfly mobile hanging from the light fixture popped into my head as well and I just had to make it...even if it meant staying up late the night before.
Then, somewhere in the midst of sleep the night before, I had the idea for us to write down one thing we love about our spouse on a heart doily, so I had to go dig those out from my craft stuff...
...but as I announced this little plan during our lunch, someone else came up with an even more brilliant idea to write our little love note inside the "Pining for You, Valentine" place cards. This made far more sense as we had much more room to write and we all easily came up with more than just one thing we love about our spouse. We read them aloud after our meal and it all ended on a very love-y, Valentine-y note...which made me so pleased indeed...and I do think did all of our hearts just a bit of good!
This winter hasn't been as brutal up North here as it has been in recent past winters. And I'm excited about the random assortment of bulbs (grape hyacinths, tulips, narcissus) I planted along the side of my house last fall...something I've never done before so I hope they work! I know that it'll still be quite awhile before they will (hopefully!) start to poke through the ground. But on this late winter day, its just a tiny little something I'm looking forward to seeing in the coming months.
Brown ottoman next to rocker (being used as a side table right now) from Target. The lid comes off and I think it will be another nice place to stash his toys as he gets older. For now it is mainly my place to store books & magazines I’m reading while nursing, books we read to him, Kleenex, and other baby odds and ends.
Handmade quilt on rocker, previously mentioned here.
Some decorating done around the house this past Saturday evening, after little baby was in bed. I didn't think I'd have the time or energy to do very much this year. Honestly I can barely just do the essential things as of late...but Hub encouraged me and we really did have fun doing this together like little elves while little Bub was fast asleep in his crib. We put up villages and elves and hung some of my favorite vintage ornaments (and a few other nature-y ones too) on tree branches I had spray-painted white, placed in a big vase on the mantel. We took out our smokers and our pyramids. And we finally both agreed a real Christmas tree was impractical and therefore out of question this year again, since little Bub has just started rolling like crazy all over the house. He doesn't crawl yet but he can roll himself across a room in no time flat, especially when no one is looking. Which is pretty exciting, even more exciting than getting a real Christmas tree so I'm okay with that!
The weekend was good and laid back...the first one that's felt like this in a long while. 
I made some chocolate covered strawberries for a friend's wife's birthday.
I hadn't made them in a looong time... I forgot how good these are!
Also, I finished my project for little baby's room. Remember these old frames? I decided to pretty much leave them as is except for a bit of sanding (originally I had planned to paint them but decided I liked the natural/rustic wood look best...it complements the brown accents and juxtaposes nicely with all the crisp white in his nursery). As you can see, I have a little bit of a "deer" theme going. I searched for vintage children's books containing deer illustrations to find a good picture for the bottom left frame...and luckily I came across a great book at my local thrift shop that had a neat cover illustration. The book must have been in a library at one time as there was plastic over the paper jacket cover. So when I took off the plastic it was still in great condition! The other two frames contain some patterned paper topped off with handcut things...a deer silhouette and the letter "A" in a light green paper...It's a little hard to see in this photo...but I'm so happy with how it all turned out!
Happy Valentine's Day! I didn't do very much in the way of "valentine-ing" this year. Not like last year. Or even the year before now that I look back on it. But Mum came up for a little visit late last week and brought along the sweetest heart punch...ever! This scalloped heart with all sorts of holes & details that punch out of it. So cute! So I borrowed her punch and punched out a variety of colored hearts. There're so many possibilities for this punch beyond just making cards with it... 
And I stuck one under the tiniest little belljar I acquired while Mum and I were out thrifting. The only real "valentine-ing" I will do now today will involve a bit of baking & cooking for my Valentine, Mr. Hub...you know what they say...the way to a man's heart is through his stomach!
Just a few of my favorite baby things so far...yes, it's beginning! ;) 
I think it's really sweet, but does anyone know Swedish? 
And speaking of "bright birds," secondly, this modern LED blue bird nightlight from Target. They also have an adorable mushroom one too...it was a tough choice.
Finally, my favorite little snapsuit/gown I've bought so far...I found it a cute, new little baby boutique here in Duluth. I also spotted this one and more sweet Baby Chai clothing online right here.
The new year has been getting off to a quiet but good start for me. I actually didn't even make it until midnight on new year's eve, probably for the first time that I can recall. Hub was off work for a few days over new years and we accomplished A TON of cleaning out, getting rid of, organizing...and it felt so wonderful. It's nice to have a partner who is fully on board and sometimes the motivator as well behind getting things organized. I'm usually a bit like this every new year...where I need to totally clean up and organize my studio after the holiday craftiness and whatnot, but this year it extended to our basement, future baby room (the closet was packed with our stuff!), etc as well. I'm sure it's the sense of a new year that spurs me to do this, to start fresh, but perhaps this year with the addition of a baby to our home, we were even more inspired to get things in order. And as we were doing all this over a few days, I pondered how silly/amazing it is that we have to spend so much time dealing with "stuff!" Makes me long for more simplicity, less things... But now that my desk is finally clean and I know where everything is, I'm taking my time to ease back into creating too. I have a desire to sew something but haven't figured out just what yet. I'd like a project that I can work on for awhile...piecing together here and there...taking my time while learning more about sewing...and quietly easing into this wonderful fresh new year!
...a simple curtain now hangs! 
I finished my curtain last week (my very first "real" sewing project) after much consideration of lace or no lace on the bottom. Did it make it look a little granny-ish or add character? 
Well, after my parents visited a couple weekends ago, I was able to get my mum's opinion too. Lace it was! Mum gave me a pile of vintage lace pieces awhile back that I've been finding some new uses for in sometimes unexpected places. And this piece of sturdy lace was the perfect length for my curtain!
Now, all I need are those Anthropologie towels I saw that I think would go perfectly with my curtain as well! I love their towels...