I Blame This Blog on My Daughter and a Little Blue Bookcase.

This gorgeous little redhead of mine will be 1 year old in just over 2 weeks. (Or rather, gorgeous little bedhead redhead! Love her hair when it's crazy...)

All I can think is "Wow." This has been the most ridiculously quick year of my life. It doesn't seem at all possible to me that three hundred and some odd days have actually passed since we were racing to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning for this little lady's hasty arrival! (A word of advice: when you are on baby #3, do not wait to go to the hospital. At all, for any reason! Trust me. More on that story another time!)

I've never thought of myself as much of a "creative," but since my daughter's birth I've felt a spark of creativity that's taken me completely by surprise. I'm excited to do things I never thought I'd want to even try, like painting furniture and learning to sew. I'm determined to improve in areas I've never thought I had much talent in, like interior design and fashion. And as for the things I already love to do...like writing, photography, party planning, and um...*a little shy here*...singing and performing...I want to get to the point of awesomeness that I know I can, if I could just stop being such a chicken. =)

When I think about all the things I want to teach my daughter about being a woman, and about how to be a happy woman, I feel a renewed ambition to dig up some old dreams, and chase after a few new ones.

Because I want her to always chase after hers.

(I'm just a little bit crazy about her.)

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Several months back I was looking for a little something to add some variety to my daughter's nursery. It has white beadboard walls and a white crib, and already had quite a bit of pink. I found this little old bookcase in a cute little boutique that refinished and sold old furniture (They have since closed their doors...*sniff sniff*). It was painted in black when I found it, but I had them repaint it in a pretty aqua for me. In my imagination it was cute, but I honestly wondered if it was going to look silly or garish in reality.

When I got it home and stuck it in the corner of Kara's room, I ab-so-lutely loved it! I may or may not have squealed, especially when the bright pink little bins I bought from Target fit in the bottom perfectly! It brings a smile to my face every time I see it! It brought a burst of color into that little room, and into my simple little world, and I realized that maybe I'm not so terribly without taste after all! It was just a tiny little incident, but in the months since then I've fallen in love with beautiful old things, or old things with potential to be beautiful! I can't stop perusing the local online classifieds for old furniture, I long for child-free trips to consignment stores and thrift shops, and I dream of a wardrobe full of vintage dresses!

That itty-bitty little triumph with my simple attempt at creativity has snowballed into a flood of all kinds of kuh-razy ideas...this blog being one of them. I decided it's high time I stop telling myself I'm not capable of being creative, or crafty, or fashionable, and being fantastic at it! I have big plans, and I'm excited to work on them and share them with ya'll!

To kick off, I'm so excited to feature my daughter's birthday party at the end of the month! I'm going to be creating my first-ever fancy-pants tablescape, along with a bunch of other fun details. It might be a smidgeon over the top for a first birthday, but planning it all out is such a ridiculous amount of fun! This last year has been my first chance ever to indulge in all the dreamy little wonders that come with having a little girl, and I absolutely love it. =)

Here's a sneak peek at the party theme and colors:

And...I wasn't going to, but I have to share...her dress is going to be in this fabric, but a little different style:

(I die...the cuteness, it kills me!)

Her party is going to be sweetly sophisticated and uber-girly. Can't wait to share it with you!

(Banner and dress both from Etsy. I want to sew beautiful things like this someday!)

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Tomorrow I'm going to post about some of the amazing women who have inspired me in my creative ambitions. I can pretty much guarantee you'll wind up inspired too...make sure to be logged onto Pinterest! =) And in the near future I'll probably end up blabbing about my recent furniture finds, including this lovely lady, who I think may be the furniture love of my life:

($20 for this diamond in the rough!)

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If you read this far, you're beyond awesome! Promise it's worth your while. =)

So, I got to thinking...I want to get this blog started off right.

And Valentine's Day is just four little days away...

So I say this first entry calls for A GIVEAWAY!

Ever heard of The Vintage Pearl? They create beautiful handstamped jewelry and keepsakes, handcrafted (no machines!) with sterling silver and pretty freshwater pearls. I love that the creator of this company started out just like me...as a stay-at-home mom (to 4!) who taught herself to make jewelry as a creative outlet. Awesome. I have been eyeing the hammered star necklace forever now! I would love to get 3 charms with each of my children's initials.

To kick off my blog, I'm giving away a $50 gift certificate to the Vintage Pearl on Valentine's Day! So, whether you're a fan of huggy-huggy-kissy-lovey day or not, one lucky winner will get an awesome gift she can use to get whatever piece of pretty she wants! They even have stuff for the guys, too.

And since this blog is brand-spankin'-new with only a handful of readers (Hi, Mom!), the odds are very much in your favor!

To enter, head over to www.thevintagepearl.com and take a look through their gorgeous creations. Then come back here and leave a comment with your favorite item (or items! Trust me, it's hard to decide...). The giveaway will be open until 11 pm on Monday, Feb. 13th. That night the winning comment # will be randomly drawn by Random.org, and the winner will be announced here Valentine's Day morning! You can get entered twice if you share this on your Facebook page and leave a comment here saying that ya did. =)

So there I went....first blog post. I took the leap, there's no turning back now! Good luck on the giveaway and thanks for reading. I'm excited to share all the fun stuff I have planned!