I finally had some free time recently to make little Glory something and had really been wanting to use this fabric from my mom's shop ...so voila, a simple, sweet spring dress. Adorned with a simple velvet ribbon and bow with gold buttons up the back.
It's Saturday...I'm posting about Kate Spade Saturday...on the weekend...and it's the weekender bag...AH!
No really, this would look good on my arm, I'm sure of it.
Found over on FAB.
shopping/fashion My hub is typically in charge of the gardening around here, except for when I enjoy the fruits of his labor :) But I've had an itch to grow a few things of my own, flowers specifically. However, I have no idea where to start. We'll see if I can make it happen this year...
However, I'm smitten with the work Caroline has been posting lately. She recently opened up a flower studio, Wild Folk Studio and I love following along with her creations.
As soon as I found out I was pregnant I knew I needed to buy a few books -- books on raising a little one. Silly? Maybe. But I just didn't have any experience in the area! To be honest, I was not very interested in the pregnancy side of things. I wanted to know the basics about what was growing inside of me but other than that, I didn't spend very much of time reading about pregnancy. My nighstand was filled with what happens after birth, the real unknowns and need-to-knows for first-time parents. So I thought I might share a few books that really helped us newbies make the transition into parenthood...
The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp MD- this came highly recommended from several people. We read the book, but the DVD of was so much more helpful. To watch that man stop a baby from crying was magical..we practiced all his voodoo. Just kidding, it's not voodoo but it was definitely useful to see the techniques in real life.
Bringing up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting: by Pamela Druckerman- We have this as an audiobook which was fun to listen to and hear the author speak in numerous faux-french accents. We listened to it before Glory was born and are actually listening to it again right now. It's definitely a memoir and should not be taken as proven science or anything, but there are little nuggets of wisdom that really helped us.
Baby 411: Clear Answers & Smart Advice For Your Baby's First Year by Denise Fields and Ari Brown MD - I wanted a book that I could look up answers to if something came up. This book is exactly that without being too uptight or unrealistic. I liked it so much that I recently got the sequel, Toddler 411.
Simpliticy Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids by Kim John Payne and Lisa M. Ross - I stumbled across this book and thought the title sounded interesting, but wowza. I've been listening to the audiobook for the past few weeks and had no idea how thought provoking and engaging it would be. I could talk for hours about the ideas and research presented in this book..but suffice it to say, the authors present a case for how a quieter and simpler home life is highly correspondent to happier and well-adjusted kiddos.
And that's really it. I checked books out at the library so I could decide if they were worth purchasing and I found that a lot of them just weren't for me. Of course the internet is it's own beast when it comes to baby questions so I try to steer clear of getting sucked into mommy forums. I found breastfeeding books to be completely unhelpful, reading about breastfeeding and actually doing it are completely different things. And at the end of the day, it's truly an on the job training kind of thing :)
Is there anything you would recommend? Check out my newborn favorite products here.
My mom has recently been giving her Etsy shop a makeover. In addition to fabrics, she has also started listing notions, such as zippers and buttons. I love the range of colors in zippers and the way she has decided to display the listings. She runs a small business that is invalubale to a small community. I look up to her dedication to her work and the creative support she provides for her customers, friends, and family.
You can read more about her fabric store beginings here and here.
You may have noticed a few visual changes here on my blog -- I switched over the aesethic to align more with my website and I also dropped Darling Dexter from the header. Tear.
I've been blogging since 2007, when I graduated college and started my first job. I found the work I was doing not meeting a creative level that I needed so I started a blog. Simple as that. My how things change... This little space has followed me through a few jobs, a few states, getting married, school twice, becoming an entrepreneur, and most recently, having a baby. I've met an amazing network and community of people across the globe. I've been kicked down by new blogs with amazing features, and new bloggers with super talents. The good with the bad like anything you do.
All that said, I felt as though I had somewhat graduated from my original presence. Darling Dexter was a quick name I chose, I have a 9 year-old Bichon who is a delight and people light up when they see him. His positive energy inspired the name. However, now that I have a photography business with a unique name, and a clothing company under my name, I wanted to just simplify. So, I'm saying goodbye to my dear Darling Dexter. The domain will stay active of course, you will always be able to get to me this way -- but I'm simply just Whitney Deal now.
The new look is a breath of fresh for me -- I'm getting back into the blogging spirit and look forward to continue sharing glimpses of my life and inspiration with you.
You may recall that we welcomed three laying hens into our backyard last summer. They have effectively given us three eggs nearly every day since. Peggy, Joan, and Betty (or as we like to call them "the girls") were the beginning of my hub's backyard farm to table adventure. We have plans for a much larger garden this year that will be supplemented by a local CSA and, hold your hats, we'll soon be experimenting with raising our own poultry for meat!
Two things of importance....I would have never thought that the temporary move back to our North Carolina hometown from Brooklyn, NY over a year ago would have lead us into settling in and embracing such a simpler life. Secondly, it's amazing that in this rural and agriculturally rich area it is almost impossible to find fresh/local/organic/seasonal/etc food. But that's for another post, another day.
Anywho -- We think we have just the prettiest birds and that they needed their own styled photoshoot...enjoy :)
Glory is slowly making her way into a few of things I made for her before she was born. Here is the navy liberty print dress, originally posted here. Don't you love her spikey blonde hair?
I'm in the process of making her a striped spring number that I can't wait to share. So stay tuned..
And yes, I'm sporting my favorite..the Bellis with a black blazer.
