exit, pursued by bear

winter-proof your car.

This post is a little outside my normal subject area, but a friend just passed along these tips and I had to share. Especially with approaching wintry weather, I think this advice will definitely come in handy.

These great tips are originally from Woman's World, but I can't find the article online (they don't seem to post their content on their site):

• Keep your headlights clear with car wax
• Ice-proof your windows with vinegar
• Prevent car doors from freezing shut with cooking spray
• Fog-proof your windshield with shaving cream
• Squeak-proof your wipers with rubbing alcohol
• De-ice your lock in seconds with hand sanitizer
• Get unstuck from the snow with your floor mat

Want more details about how to employ these fabulous recommendations? Click here to download the .PDF I was sent. Good Housekeeping has some useful tips, too.

flower shoppe and white fir.

Review week continues!

My husband's family first introduced me to Trapp Private Garden candles. His brother and sister-in-law often have one of their scented candles, the Bob's Flower Shoppe #13 fragrance, burning at their house. And these candles routinely appear at other homes of other family members. They're a favorite hostess gift. This is hands-down, the best scented candle I have ever had the pleasure to sniff:

{Bob's Flower Shoppe #13 - Trapp Private Garden, from Candle Delirium}

Recently, we came across one of their holiday scents, White Fir -- my husband's parents had it their house and it smells divine:

{White Fir - Trapp Private Garden, from Candle Delirium}

Holiday scents can be tricky -- especially because I usually want a subtle "essence of" fragrance, rather than anything overpowering. My husband really likes "Christmas tree" scents, but most of the ones you find smell like cheap, tree-shaped car air fresheners -- not at all like the scent of having a live fir tree in your home (which ... we do, but I guess we require more pine scent!). The description for Trapp's White Fir scent is perfect:

Trapp White Fir (Forest) candle Douglas Fir, eucalyptus, clove and crisp air. It's a walk in the forest on a crisp winter's afternoon.

The Douglas fir scent isn't overpowering at all -- it's balanced nicely by the eucalyptus and clove. It really does smell "crisp!" I sniffed the "Holiday" scent, too -- and it's also really nice: cinnamon and nutmeg.

Trapp's candles burn really well and last a LONG time, which is good, because they are a bit pricey - we paid $25 for the White Fir candle (we bought it at Christopher's in Kirkwood) and I think they're regular, non-seasonal varieties are similarly priced. They do come in a lovely, substantial box -- which is perfect for gift giving or storage. Trapp's "tagline" is "A Bottle of Perfume in Every Candle" and it's true! They are scented beautifully -- never too overwhelming -- just lovely, subtle scents.

Trapp is a Kansas City, Missouri company -- which is nice -- so a lot of St. Louis area retailers carry their products. We've bought these candles at Straub's (they usually have a bit display in their floral section) and the Gifted Gardener in the past.

tiny prints, part II!

I neglected to mention in yesterday's review that the design I ultimately chose was one of the nine that I posted. Did you guess which one? I was going to wait until later this week to share which design I selected, once my cards arrived -- but they arrived faster than I expected and showed up last night :o)

So, after careful consideration and debate (it was a tough decision, folks!) - the hubs and I selected "Holiday Speckles":

I love that it's sort of a Kate Spade-esque design. Just a simple, lovely little card -- perfect for making your photos standout. I don't like some other photo cards that I've seen where the design of the card itself seems to conflict with your photo.

The ordering process with Tiny Prints could not have been easier. Lots of flexibility with photo uploading -- it was very easy to edit your photo and make color changes -- full color, a sepia tone, black and white, etc. They also have a great proofing system that lets you e-mail your initial designs (card and uploaded picture) and share what you've been working on. This was great when I could not decide which photo to use, so I could send several different variations to my husband and get his opinion.

Shipping was very reasonable -- and they have several options to expedite the process, either through shipping or at the front end, during printing. E-mails kept me updated on the status -- that my order was received, when it was printed and then ultimately shipped. And then my order arrived faster than expected: bonus!

I'm really, really pleased with the final result -- the cards look really nice. The printing was great - really high quality. I'm so excited about my cards -- I can't wait to send them out!!

And once they have been sent out, I'll even upload a picture of the design with the photo we chose. I hope you like it!

get maternal!

I just might make this a product review week, since I've been meaning to do a quick little post on something I've been enjoying a lot lately: The Republic of Tea's "get maternal" herb tea for pregnant and new moms:

It's a really lovely, caffeine free tea -- I've been having a cup every night and it's been so nice to sip something warm before bed. And the added "benefits" of this tea are great! Here's what it says on the front of the canister:

Baby, look at you glow. But with all the changes going on in your body, you could probably use a bit of personal pampering. So whether you're expecting, or your little bundle of joy has already arrived, kick back and enjoy a cup of this lovely caffeine-free herbal blend, based on organic rooibos and conceived just for you. To help tone uterine muscles, we've added raspberry leaf, a time-honored tonic. Nettles and horsetail, herbs with roots that reach deep into mother earth, provide essential nutrients like silica for growing strong bones. Parsley fights water retention and a snap of ginger staves off nausea. So sip and rock-a-bye "baby" yourself.

Ingredients: Organic Rooibos (leaf), Raspberry (leaf), Stinging Nettle (aerial parts), Ginger (root), Horsetail (aerial parts), Parsley (leaf), Natural Mango Flavor, Black Limon

It has a nice, fruity flavor -- not too strong. I can definitely taste the subtle hints of mango -- the tea reminds me a bit of their Mango Ceylon blend (comes in decaf, too!), which I LOVE. Don't fear the mango -- it's a really wonderful tea. Makes great iced tea, too.

I've been getting the Republic of Tea catalog for a while now (which, if you're interested, is great -- they send you a free sample tea bag with every catalog!) and I noticed the "get maternal" tea earlier this year, before I was pregnant. I made a mental note at the time, because I thought it would make a great new mom or newly pregnant mom gift.

Last week I was browsing the tea section at Whole Foods -- I was actually looking for a decaffeinated version of a British Breakfast blend (which I realize, seems like a contradiction in terms, but actually the Republic of Tea does have one!) -- when I came across the get maternal tea. I was very pleased to find it locally. It's a little more expensive than I'd like to pay for tea (about $10 for 36 tea bags), but it's such a nice little treat for myself. It's wonderful with a little bit of honey, but equally good just plain.

Very soothing -- I'm not sure if it's the ingredients, but I find it to be very relaxing. Seems great for sore muscles, too!

This would be a perfect stocking stuffer for new moms and moms-to-be -- but if you're looking for a little good-for-you indulgence, this is also ideal.

tiny prints!

A few months ago, I was contacted by the lovely Amanda, of the charming TinyPrints.com. She asked if I was interested in reviewing some of their holiday cards for my blog and I happily agreed!

Who am I to say no to the chance to check out paper products! She also gave me a generous $50 gift certificate so that I could check out their stationery in person. Thank you, Tiny Prints!

Let me tell you how difficult it was to choose ONE design -- there were so many fabulous options! Here are a few of my favorites:

{Tasteful Ticket}

{Holiday Speckles - several color options: black (shown), green and blue}

{Heartwarming Mittens}

{Gridded Greetings - several color options: green (shown), teal and orange}

{Peppermint Delight}

{Seasonal Stripes}

{Vintage Santa}

{Gift Wrapped: Chocolate}

They even have some lovely, non-photo card options. This was one of my favorites:

{Blossoming Birds}

And this is just a TINY selection of the cards that I loved. I tried to stick with simple, clean designs for the examples I posted here -- but they have a great selection of a variety of designs: contemporary, traditional, whimsical -- you name it!

Once my cards arrive, I'll share with you the design I selected and give a more detailed review of Tiny Prints -- site navigation, ordering process, etc.

Stay tuned!

might just need this.

{"Better Than Anywhere Else" print from etsy seller 3LambsGraphics - $26}

Paris and New York versions also available.

and so it begins!

Surprisingly, I haven't spent TOO much time gathering ideas for the nursery -- but I've definitely been looking. I think part of the problem is that I haven't really committed to one style -- I don't have a definite idea in mind -- so I think that can make things slow in getting started.

But! I think I have come up with a rug idea. Back when we were deciding on a runner for our hallway (we went "Sea Foam," in case you were wondering) -- what I REALLY wanted was a faux bois runner. I liked the idea of the contrast between our dark wood floors and a lighter woodgrain rug pattern. Pottery Barn had one, so did Martha Stewart (in her line for Safavieh) -- but both were out of our price range, and in the case of PB - discontinued (the runners never seemed to show up on eBay, only the area rugs).

I kept thinking - WHY doesn't Martha Stewart add a faux bois pattern to her collection at Flor? Apparently, the MS gods were listening to me ...

I noticed the new pattern when the Flor catalog arrived the other day -- I'm so excited! I really been wanting to incorporate faux bois SOMEHOW into the nursery and I had been pondering refinishing an existing dresser I had in a faux bois pattern, but this rug would be a MUCH easier way to subtly bring in this pattern.

I've ordered a sample of the "Moon/Bisque" colorway and the "Bisque/Reed," to see which looks best against our floors. The room of our intended nursery is quite small. I'm initially imagining a 5x8 rug - but maybe even a 3x5 would work. I'm going to need to do some measuring when I get home.

What's great about Flor, is that if one square gets horribly stained and ruined, it will be so easy to replace! I'm excited about the versatility of this product.

So, I've finally made one small step towards nursery preparedness! Well, other than shredding 3 bags full of paper and old bills (the room is currently our office - i.e. paper dumping ground).

festive door.

Love this:

{image from One Kings Lane}

Turquoise and gray are so fabulous together. I wonder how this door color would look on our brick house ... Hmm.

onesie, twosie ...

I am very excited to finally be able to announce on my blog that I'm pregnant! My husband and I could not be more thrilled. It was definitely a surprise - but what a wonderful one :o)

I've had quite a bit of trouble trying to decide how I would make this "announcement" and what I would say ... so I thought it might be best to just start out by sharing the darling little custom onesies that I got from Etsy seller mooshy gooshies:

They are even cuter in person! I love the felt. She had the Frenchie silhouette one in her store, but she modified her Boston Terrier face onesie to be a bit more Frenchie-like. I sent her a picture of Norman as inspiration :o)

We used the onesies to tell our families the news. My mom was totally confused at first - it was really funny. She thought I had bought the onesies for our dogs :o)

And now our boys are going to be furry big brothers! This caused much confusion on Facebook when I mentioned that the other day, since several people thought we were adding another dog to our family, which - given our obsession with our dogs - is not completely out of the realm of posibilities.

I tried to get a cute picture of our positive pregnancy test - but Louis just kept trying to gnaw on it:

So that's my news! I guess I really haven't been all that boring lately ;o)

I'm here!

I'm just incredibly boring with little to share! But I'll be back soon - with pictures from around my house because I'm in desperate need of some advice re: closet organization!

{Oh closet, why can't you be pretty and organized like this one? (photo from the Container Store)}

Stay tuned ;o)