Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary. (I know, there's less than 2 hours left to my anniversary) I've been so busy lately, we forgot it was coming up until a few days ago. So no special plans for tonight. We've been together since my freshman year in college.

Thanks for putting up with me! I love you so much! You're an amazing husband and a fabulous dad! (That's our wedding picture)

Random Thoughts

I'm leaving for a weekend Passion Parties training in New Jersey this weekend, so I'm just going to leave you with some of my random thoughts. I'm excited about the training--they're bringing in Elizabeth Hagen in to share how to organize and simplify my life. Boy, do I need that. Reports from other Passion Power training locations are that she's fabulous! I get a weekend away from the family while hubby gets lots of one-on-one time with Sophia. I can't wait to see my Mid-Atlantic Passion Diva colleagues!

Last week I made some fabric bookmarks for a tea swap I'm a regular in on Paperbackswap.com. They're pretty easy to make. Why make one when I can assembly line 10 of them? I don't use bookmarks, but my swap receiver loved her bookmarks and the teas I sent her. The swap is a great way to try new teas without committing to an entire box. The easy thing about the bookmarks is that you can make use of those scraps you can bear to throw out!

I'm a huge fan of Whole Foods and just discovered (via their blog) Clementine art supplies. It's a line of all natural supplies for kids. I can't wait to pick some up to try. I love the colors of the play dough. I know it's easy to make your own play dough, but I never got around to it. I wonder how their tempera paints smell. After working at summer camp for several years, the smell of regular tempera paint makes me want to puke. (photo via Clementine Art)

Have a great weekend!

How to Be Green with Your Bedroom Toys

It's been a while, since I shared some bedroom tips. These are an excerpt from my newsletter. Not on my newsletter? Sign up in the box on your right!

I'm sure that staying green with your Passion Parties products is the last thing on your mind. However, there are a few things you can do to be nicer to the planet. The obvious thing to do is to recycle your empty bottles of RT Soft & Silky Shave Creme and Revelation lube.

Do you go through a lot of batteries? Don't be embarrassed--you're having fun! Invest in rechargeable batteries. Make sure you have 2 sets for your favorite toy. One set can charge while the other set is making you happy. If you don't want to invest in batteries, try out our new plug-in Body Wand.

When you receive your brown box of goodies, don't throw away the packing peanuts. Reuse or recycle them! Use them when you mail your next package or The UPS Store will be happy to take your unwanted packing peanuts. OR, if you need a few moments of sanity, a small box of them will keep Sophia entertained long enough for me to regain my sanity.

What about you? What are some ways you can go green with your bedroom goodies? I'll share them in the next newsletter.

Also, receive a RomantaTherapy Green Tea Sampler, a $15 value, for free when you spend $50 or more at my website. Just enter the word SAMPLER in the notes section when you checkout, and it'll be included in your order!

If you haven't tried the new Green Tea scent yet, it smells great and is very relaxing!

Sewing Underwear

Yes, I'm crazy. Or at least my friends I hang out with here tell me so. Why? Because I've sewn some underwear for myself. I thought it be fun (it is) and pretty easy (for me). It's also fun to say that I've sewn my own undies.

I'm not making crazy fancy lingerie, just little cotton undies. I bought a grab bag of elastics a while back from Kathy's Elastics, and decided I should use the pretty lingerie elastic I got from it. (If you want some elastic grab bags, join her Yahoo Group to get them. She also sells fabric & lace too--all at great prices and fast shipping.)

I traced a pattern from a pair of Sophia's underwear and came up with these. See those cute ruffly elastics? They are made from knit fabrics. (That's my ironing board in the background.)


DH showed them to her in the morning (because all my sewing is done late at night watching old episodes of Law & Order), and she immediately put them on! I consider it a sewing success. So far 2 of the clothing I made for her this summer, she's only worn once.

Truth be told I wouldn't normally bother to make underwear for a 3 year old, but I just wanted to do it for fun. They went together really fast (thanks to my serger and how small they are).

I also made 2 pairs for me. Why not right? I wanted to use some t-shirts that DH brought home from the Spy Museum Store (where he works), but my ass is too big for those size small baby doll t-shirts. At least for me to cut out the undies with the print going the way I wanted. The Mata Hari shirt will languish on my sewing table until I think of something else for it. Thankfully I had some black t-shirt fabric I just bought from the fabric store. And cute lilac elastic. (Sorry about the overexposed pic.)


The last time I made underwear (I keep wanting to type panties, but I guess underwear sounds better) for myself, I used fold over elastic. It was my first time using FOE. I cut out the size for my measurements--according to the pattern--but they were too big. A bit disappointing so I didn't make anymore. Can't have your underwear sliding down as you walk right?

This time the results were much much better. And it took less time to make them than before. I guess now I know what I'm doing. I'm loving the lingerie elastic a lot more. The underwear (almost said panties) looks much more like "store-bought" undies.

I also made myself some pregnancy belly bands. The first time I was pregnant, I thought they were silly, since they're mainly advertised a way to continue wearing your pre-pregnancy pants. Basically you wear your pants unbutton and put the band over the waistband to hide the fact and to keep your pants up.

The belly bands definitely help with my lower back paint. Especially by the end of the day when my baby belly just feels so heavy. There's a great tutorial here. I actually made mine self-lined so there's no seams sewing (overachiever that I am).

Sophia now wants her own belly band so she can be just like me. LOL. Only it has to be pink. I'm going to miss it when I'm not her pedestal anymore. Teen years right?

Becoming a Big Sister

Watching how Sophia adapts to my growing belly, her brother-to-be, has been quite interesting. She’s become super clingy. It’s understandable. I’m tired, grumpy, and bitchy. I’m not the same mom she knew before I got knocked up. Right?

By super clingy, I mean obsessed. She’s obsessed with my belly. As in touching it every time she thinks about my belly. She has to rub it, love it, and snuggle it. It has to be my bare belly. We’ve had quite a few talks about pulling my shirt up in public. She’s also obsessed with my boobs. How do they make milk? How will her baby brother drink the milk? (I nursed Sophia for 2 years).

When I tuck her in bed, she actually says goodnight separately to my belly, my boobs, and me. All 3 of us. As if I don’t feel like a cow already, now there’s 3 of me.

The other day, she dialed my belly (bare belly, of course)—like a telephone—to talk to her brother. My black hole of an innie navel was the receiver AND the earpiece. Apparently the baby is ready to come out, according to Sophia. I’m sure as I grow more rotund, she’ll be calling him more often. Hopefully there won’t be any roaming charges.

I’m glad she’s warming up to having a baby brother. I know that she has no idea what she’s in for once he’s born. Even though I get tired of Sophia rubbing my belly all day, I’m glad that she’s excited and interested in the baby.

This post was inspired by DC Metro Moms’ August book club selection, Birth Day by Dr. Mark Sloan. Sloan shares how the medical aspects of giving birth has evolved over the years, from pain relief, to a father’s role, to what the baby tastes and sees.

What Would You Have Done?

So you're on your way out of Ikea and have bribed your 3 year old with an ice cream cone so she'll leave willingly. Then in the parking lot, she drops her ice cream cone (which was partly my fault, but don't tell her that).

Of course she starts screaming because she dropped her ice cream and she's tired. Other families walk by the two of us with looks of sympathy on their faces. I was totally tempted to pick up the cone and wipe off the part that touched the ground. But there were too many people watching.

So, as my tortured child screamed, I picked up what I could and threw it away. I was too tired to deal with the Sunday Ikea crowd to go back in for another cone. I dragged her screaming to the car with a promise of another cone from the drive-thru at McDonalds. Poor kid just yelled "Ice cream! Ice cream!" over and over until she passed out from exhaustion. All before we reached the nearest McDonald's.

What would you have done?

Photo courtesy of Caro Wallis.

Organization Is Not My Forte

Sophia starts preschool in the fall. It's via the Child Development Lab program at our local high school. Basically it's high school students who are in the child development program. They (with the help of their HS teacher) lesson plan and teach preschoolers.

I've heard great things about it. The little ones get lots of one on one attention. And it's super inexpensive (compared to the private options near us). I don't even need to co-op. The only downside so far is that she won't start school until October. That gives me a month more or less to myself (for 4 mornings a week) before baby boy comes along.

That doesn't mean I can't get excited about school and school supplies! Thank to OfficeMax, I received an awesome box of school supplies in coordination to their Organization webcast with Peter Walsh from TLC's Clean Sweep. The supplies are totally cute, with owls, hearts, and birds. Thank goodness I have a girly girl. Sophia has already claimed the drawstring backpack and pencil set. The composition books are all mine though!

I got some great tips on the webcast and Twitter chat. That picture above is what my desk looks like on a good day. On a bad day, you can't even see my desk. Plus it's L-shaped so you can just multiply by 2 or 10. Then when I can't stand it any longer or I really need to find something (usually the latter), I do a purge and clean it off. Sad and pathetic. I know. And I work from home so in addition to the household bills and papers, I have all of my Passion Parties stuff.

Here are the tips that stuck with me from the webcast

1. Color code things. Whether it's books in your kid's library (science, fiction, etc), or the papers on your desk, pick and color and stick with it.

2. Keep a pencil holder on your desk. I have 2 mugs full of pencils on my desk. I guess that might be too many.

3. Instead of buying gifts for your children's teachers, purchase school supplies instead. Recommended for pre-k teachers: glue sticks, tissues, washable markers, hand sanitizers (thanks )

4. If you show how much you value organization, your kids will too. How do I get hubby in with the program?

5. One in, one out. This definitely something I have a problem with. Hubby is worse than I am. He complain whenever I tell him he needs to get rid of something. I'm tired of sorting his gazillion pairs of holey sock (which he tries to hide the fact that they have holes).

Of course right after the webcast/chat, I was totally inspired to do some purging. Now that it's the end of the evening (as I write this), I'm totally being lazy.

What about you? How do you keep your household organized?

Special thanks to OfficeMax for sending me those totally fabulous school supplies! (I was not compensated for this post nor was I made to write it. I really enjoyed the organization tips and hope you get something from the webcast too.)

Edited to add: The clipboard in my goodbox was broken. I emailed about it and received a response in less than 12 hours! They're sending a replacement. Kudos!

Finally, some sewing

After going through a sewing craze a few weeks ago, I finally had the energy to cut and sew some deliciously cute baby kimonos with matching pants.

Last week, I drafted the kimono pattern from Habitual's tutorial. Too lazy to draft a real pants pattern (one where there's room for a butt, especially one that will be wearing a cute diaper), I found a cheap pattern from the thrift store.

I know the tutorial calls for woven fabric, but I used a knit I purchased from a member of Sewing Mamas. Since I was too lazy to make matching/coordinating binding for the ties, I just used some foldover elastic (FOE). FOE might be the coolest thing ever.

The two sets are totally adorable! One set is for the babe and another is for a good friend who is also having a boy. She's due the end of September. Hope she doesn't read this first and ruin the surprise!

I did draft a Sophia-sized pattern too. I just need to dig in my stash for some coordinating fabric. I don't want to make the entire set in the same fabric--it might look too pajama like. I know she'll want to wear it out.

Sorry about the bad pics. Sophia decided to pose with the clothes and these are only ones where she's not rolling over them or picking them up.

Impromptu Movie Date--Julie & Julia

It's sad that hubby and I don't go on very many dates. Maybe 3 times a year. Hubby scored some passes to a sneak peek of Julie & Julia earlier this week. After several phone calls, we secured a babysitter (thank Sis!). Mind you this was all the day before the screening.

I didn't expect to be able to see the movie in the theatre, maybe on DVD later. It was quite a treat. Even with the woes of the Metro, my sister finally made it back to Silver Spring and we rushed off to the theatre. Thankfully there were still seats. (Usually at screenings, they give out more passes than available seats). We even splurged on a soda and popcorn thank to a great coupon.

I read Julie Powell's book last year and enjoyed immensely. I love reading books about cooking and food. It was fun to follow along Julie's adventure as she cooked through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 1 year. Quite an endeavor right? I'm not sure I could eat rich French food for an entire year. I love my Vietnamese food too much.

I loved the scenes in the movie with Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep) & Paul Child (Stanley Tucci). I don't know very much about Julia Child's life, so it was fascinating. Ann Roth, the costume designer did a great job of making Meryl Streep look super tall. With the long pants and the gorgeous wedge shoes.

Since I used to work in costume design for the theatre, I alway notice the costumes in movies. And I'm a sucker for period pieces. I loved fifties dresses. Those are dresses that flatter almost any figure, even mine! The striped chevron dresses and skirts--such eye candy.

Streep & Tucci had such amazing chemistry in the movie. Julia & Paul were deeply in love. They did a great job of showing that, not just with words, but expressions and gestures.

I know the movie was about Julie Powell's journal through Julia Child's cookbook, but Meryl Streep definitely stole the show. Gotta love Nora Ephron! She did a great job with the screenplay. Though it was much sappier than the book, I did leave the theatre feeling very good.

That's what you want at the end of a date, right?

Maybe hubby can score passes for The Time Traveler's Wife?

t I Love a Man in Uniform Winner

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Congrats to Melanie for winning the book!

Please contact me within 48 hours with your mailing address and I'll send it out.

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