NESTING

HELP! I am going through this crazy nesting phase right now! This shouldn't be a bad thing except that I am spending the majority of my time on designing blogs or googling "mid-century modern decor" images all day long. When I get like this it is very hard to focus, I just want to re-do every room in our apartment . . . and really in everyone else's house too. This usually results in spending too much of our budget on home decor and a lot of half finished projects. How do I focus or put an end to this madness?

I've been trying to focus by making this phase more of a personl design defining point, really looking at what I want my home to look like and how I want it to come together over the next few years. In this, I feel hopeless as well, I like way too many design eras and styles. My home will have to be eclectic to fit everything I love in. I think I can have it all work out though. I love the clean lines of mid-century modern and the art deco eras for the over all theme but then I'd like to have punches of modern graphic designs or a baroque styled piece of furniture scattered though out my house to give it a little more interest and personlity. I'm still trying to find some blog or design spread that fits this style for some inspiration, but most likely if I do find an inspirational piece then that will just spur more desire for more decorating and more nesting and more projects. Argh! How can I win this battle?

THE HOUSE DRESS SEARCH

I am so excited. I have been searching for cute little retro house dresses that are modest for a long time and I feel like I am finally starting to hit the jack pot. I'm not sure if more people are just making them now or if I finally am just stumbling onto the right places. First off, Jeff got me this adorable navy shirt wrap dress from Target for my Birthday. I love that it is long enough, has sleeves and, the best thing of all, it has pockets. Getting a cute little number like that made an already great Birthday even better. (When I get them uploaded I will put some pictures of our family gathering from my Birthday on here)

Now, thanks to one of my new favorite blogs - Design Mom - and being bored at work - I found another great little store that sells great house dresses. The Shabby Apple - http://www.shabbyapple.com/default.aspx - they have a ton of cute dresses that really wont break the bank, especially when they have great sales. Pictured are a couple of my favorites.
I love that retro dresses are in style right now.

I think that it is pretty funny the way things work out. When I was in college I really thought I wanted to be a career woman, that the traditional roles for women were so degrading and I wanted to do something better. I'm not saying that I didn't want to have kids or a family, I did, but I was going to do it on my own-by my terms. Now that I am married I can hardly wait to start a family. Four years later I wish I could quit my job tomorrow to be a full time mom running around in little 50's house dresses, sewing, baking and teaching my children. I still want to do things my own way but I now no longer take shame in those traditional roles that have been given to women; instead I relish in them, take great pride in how important the role of a woman is (which I do understand to be more than baking and sewing). So, yes, now I get very excited over a dress and love it.