Loving My Neighbor-hood!

So, we are beginning to settle in our new home and I am in the process of "setting up house".  There's just something so exciting about moving into a new home and making it your own. And,  I have to tell you guys again that, I adore our new house and absolutely LOVE our new neighborhood!

Our house has so much potential and character!

The first night here, our dear friends and neighbors, Jason and Kate dropped by.  It was wonderful to see them pull up in our driveway and knowing that they lived so close by.  We enjoyed a cup of chai tea and spent a couple of hours visiting.  Kate and I were giggling about how wonderful it is going to be being neighbors.  Kate also has a lovely new blog that you guys can check out HERE.

Then the next day, I met my sweet new elderly neighbor, Miss Edna.  She was SO precious!  She is in her 70's and is just as sweet as she can be.  She wanted to introduce herself and brought me over some homegrown tomatoes, telling me to help myself to some whenever I wanted. :)

I still have TONS of unpacking to do and I am also deep in the throws of preparing for my friend's baby shower that we are having tomorrow.  Yesterday, I painted bottles and did all sorts of creative fun stuff to get ready for it.  I can't wait to take pics and share the funness of it all with you. It's been hectic, but awesome.

Well, better get back to my super long "to do" list.   You loves have the loveliest of days!

 Hanging with Kate & Jason!

Forest boy helping daddy set up the entertainment center.

Vintage teapot from our wedding, now our spoon and spatula holder.

Miss Edna's fresh homegrown tomatoes.

Creating for the baby shower.

View of backyard from my kitchen window....loving my trees!

Thank you guys so much for helping us in the rankings on TopBabyBlogs with your votes! I really, really appreciate it! If you could please keep it up by clicking the link below, me and my little fam would be super grateful. You guys are the best! xo Jess

Tunes & Such: Matrimony

Lovely dears, I would like to share a local band with you that I love. They are friends of mine and just plain amazing, meet Matrimony. Ashlee and her husband James are an amazing duo who have some of the most catchy, inspiring lyrics and melodies. Ashlee is the biggest sweetheart ever, seriously. The way they blend and make music together is magically perfect. The music video below "Obey Your Guns" is their new single they are offering for free download right now! Click HERE for the download and more music that will stir your heart and make you want to dance down a hillside. I am inspired by every one of their songs and get so excited when I hear they've released a new one! Listen, watch, download and enjoy! 

Matrimony | Obey Your Guns from Crown Alley Films on Vimeo.

iPhone Blogging And A Crazy Schedule

Ok you guys, here goes my first try at blogging from my iPhone...

Our internet won't be hooked up until Sunday and there is no way I can wait THAT long to blog! But hey, I am so loving my new house, my new neighborhood and I so want to share...Hurry up Sunday!!!  In the meanwhile, here is a run down of these past few days, in a nut shell:

Wednesday: Officially moved, loaded up the truck and slept in our new house.

Thursday: Woke up, went back to our old house to clean and gathered up the "few" remaining items that were scattered throughout the house. HA! Those "few" items turned out to be six more, completely cram-packed, SUV loads of stuff!

Friday: Back over to our old house to mop the floors and finish cleaning the kitchen. It was a huuuuge house!  Can you say cleaning marathon! Ha!  And, keep in mind, we were doing all of this with a teething baby. The piano movers came to the old house late in the afternoon to bring our treasured upright piano over to the new place. Sam stayed cleaning, while I brought Káel back with me and the piano movers to the new house.  After the delivery,  I came back to the old house (with Káel) to help Sam.  After we finally finished cleaning, we all three headed back to our new home. When we got there, we unpacked a few kitchen boxes, then hit the hay. (Whew! Am I making you tired yet?) ;)

Saturday: Sam cleans out the garage, back at the old house and takes a few loads to Goodwill. (Stuff be gone!) Finally!  Completely done at our old house! Now, on to more unpacking! 

Sunday: On a super fun and mega enjoyable note, yesterday I had a blast at my friend Caitlyn's baby shower! It was a pool party, with a frozen drink machine and the most awesome food ever! We drifted around in the pool, sipping our preggo, virgin pina coladas, enjoying sheer bliss for the day! It was so refreshing and was a much appreciated break after all the moving, packing and unpacking.

My hot, amazing moving man!

The dining room became a depot for the "undetermined" stuff and was part of the last to go.

As we cleaned, Forest boy discovered a new found friend...the vacuum. Ha!

Little man was so good at entertaining himself, while momma & daddy finished cleaning up. =)

Even though we purged like crazy before the move, we had an unbelievable amount of boxes!

Now to create some pathways as the unpacking continues!

My lovely mermaid beauties at the baby shower for Caitlyn on Saturday.

Precious and beautiful Caitlyn at her baby shower.

Today:  I am back to more unpacking and getting ready for a crazy full schedule for the month of August! Besides setting up my new home, my calendar includes preparing for a baby shower that I am throwing next Saturday, for a beautiful friend on their amazing farm! Two weeks later is Sparrow's birthday party. And, to finish off the month, the following week is Forest boy's one year birthday party! Ah! I told you it was crazy full! Ha! We've got lots going on and lots to do...and lots of joy and celebration!

Well, I think I have pretty much caught you up with my world. And even though my recap may sound rather choppy and repetitive,  that's what we've been up to. :)  And with the last few days behind us now, it feels so good to be able to focus on our new home! It is THE perfect amount of space for us and just a dreamy little nook of a neighborhood.

I'll be doing my best to get posts up, as soon as possible to keep you guys in the loop. Hope you have a great week and try and stay cool in this crazy heat wave that we are having!

Hey guys! One more thing.  If my blog makes you smile, would you mind taking a moment to click the link below?  It will take you to another link that will ask you to click one more time to give us a vote.  Top Baby Blogs has been a great place to connect with so many wonderful people and I can't tell you just how much I really appreciate you helping to keep us ranked. Thanks so much! xo Jess

Moving Day

How many times have you ever moved? Geeez Louise, this is exciting! I have moved a TON in my lifetime. So, I'm no stranger to moving vans or packing tape. We were out at our new place until around 10 last night.  We were whipping out the mops, all purpose cleaner (the safe kind) and a yummy candle or two. Sam and I had so much fun! You know how old houses can smell, like your great-grandpa's sock drawer or old coin collection? Yep, kinda stinky. So, we brightened it up a bit with some cleaning sunshine. Káel LOVED exploring and playing as we started to transform the place. 

We are about to go pick up the van this morning.  After that I will be dropping little boho boy off at at my dear friend Lauren's house. That way, I can help move boxes and tie up some loose ends after all the big stuff has been loaded up. (We have some friends of ours who are coming over to help us.) Lauren has 2 boys, Oliver is 3 and Dashel is 1. They all love playing with each other so much so it's like a play day for sweet boy! Thank you girl so SO much! <3  You can check out Lauren's blog HERE.

I wanted to share some more instagram pics with you guys. The first two are of me and my boys right after we had a play session in a summer rain shower a couple days ago. Oh my goodness! It definitely went into my treasure chest of favorite memories. Káel loved it, squealing and giggling, as we acted all crazy together. We all 3 were totally drenched afterwards, but so happy! 

I've got to go round up Forest boy's diaper bag for the day and then go with Sam to pick up the moving van! BUTTERFLIES! See ya'll on the other side! :) Have a happy, peaceful day! 

Oh, by the way, thank you guys for being so sweet and flooding us with sweet comments yesterday. I had so much fun reading them :) Y'all are the sweetest!

Rain soaked 

Yes, Baby Einstein once again. 

Meet "Puppy" Káel's ultimate love, from Ikea. He sleeps with it ever night now and drags it through the house. He gets just as excited to see this as he does me. ;) 

We stopped for a treat at one of my all time fav restaurants, Pei Wei after taking the first wagon of things over to the new place, oh yum! I love fortune cookies and when I opened this, I decided to keep it and put it in my "sweet memories" box. 

The Forest boy playing in our new living room while we unload some dishes and clean.

Baby Einstein Boy

Yesterday we got so much done! While packing, I made a little fort for Forest boy out of a box and gave him my iPhone with the Baby Einstein app. He laid there for over 20 minutes, completely mesmerized by the Mozart and Ocean videos, just chillin'. :) I thought it was the cutest thing ever and wanted to share!

Today is our last day in our yellow house. It's kind of bittersweet. More on the sweet side though. Since moving to the Carolinas, after Sam and I got married, I've only lived right across the border of Charlotte, in a sweet little South Carolina town. :)  So, it's kind of a big deal. I'm SUPER stoked though. We are going to take the first car load over to the new bungalow this afternoon! There is something magical about having the key to your new house on your key ring. Time to plan where the furniture is going to be placed and put our china away in the cabinets. I'm dancing a happy dance that the move is almost over and that peace, calm and active creativeness can happen in my life a little more easily again. ;) Maybe my next post will be from our new house!?

Beautiful Tuesday to you lovelies!

He pulled the top flap down and was quite cozy in his little secret fort. 

Kissable belly!

2 Days Left

We have 2 days left before the moving van pulls up and we load up all of our trinkets and pretty things  to our new little house! As much as I can say I'm excited, I also feel the urge to pull my curls out! AH! If you have ever moved, you know how it is...especially towards the end. There is STUFF everywhere! Little odds and ends that somehow keep appearing out of nowhere. All the little baubles and misc. items, I swear seem to be breeding like bunnies while we sleep. I've been pretty proud of how organized I have been in my mad packing skills this move. But, these last 2 days are gonna stretch me. Forest boy has been a trooper and going with the flow, like a champ. A couple of my friends have offered to watch him while we do the heavy work, which is AMAZING. Thanks girls! <3 

It makes me sad that I'm so behind on Káel's monthly growing posts. :( I think I'll try to just do a 3 month recap with pictures, once we are all moved in. This move has been so time and brain consuming that it's scattered my blogging brain a bit. But, I'm really excited and looking forward to getting back in the writing groove, hopefully in the next couple of weeks! Thanks for hanging in there with us! :)

I thought I'd share some pics from this past week, using the Instagram app! If you have it, you can follow our day to day journey! username "bohobabybump" 

Well, it's off to packing again I go! Happy day dears!

This is pretty much what I have looked like every day this past week. 

Helping mommy "pack" by re-sorting some misc. things in the bathroom. yes, those are pads left over from his birth. ha!

Big deal for me: organizing, sorting through and getting rid of my jewelry collection before it goes in a box. 

His latest obsession, cars. 

i couldn't remember the last time i had had a "cheat" drink from starbucks. Sam brought me one while packing. the mocha-cocconut iced coffee.....gasp. so good!

A couple days ago, I got to take a small break in the evening and have what was supposed to be a netflix movie night with some girl friends. We ended up talking and laughing 'til midnight instead (which i think is much better ). ;) I tossed on a scarf, some mascara and earrings before heading out the door .

Styling Sarah's hair. We all felt like we were 12 again. 

Fox Dolls

While surfing for some inspiration on the web, early this morning, I stumbled across these Takyaje fox dolls, by Russian designer Nalogina Lubov. Oh.my.goooodness! The AMAZING details that she put into these little pieces of art, truly amazes me. Can I have one please? I have been a little crazed with doll making inspiration and desire lately, so I squealed when I found these. Can I just say that these have totally inspired me, big time! With having so many little, baby girl loves in my life right now, I can't WAIT to stitch some goodies up for them! When I get moved and settled, I plan on doing just that and putting my sewing machine and sewing box back into use again. Speaking of moving, I better get going so I can get back to some more packing...just a few more days! Meanwhile, you guys can check out more of  Nalogina's work on her flickr stream, HERE. Enjoy and have a beautiful Sunday! 

Date Night Threads

Date night last night was a-ma-zing! For the occasion, I wore a sweet little dress that I found at Buffalo Exchange . You should definitely see if you have one in your neck of the woods. It is awesomeness! I blush as I confess to you that I don't have any dressy, fancy-smancy shoes.  So, I decided to take the dress in a casual, earthy direction and wear my comfy Minnetonka moccasins instead of buy something extra. With my Free People leather belt, some silver, leafy earrings from Green With Envy plus, a silver cuff, I was good to go.

 

This dress is SO comfortable! Also, if you don't have a pair of Minnetonka's, you don't know what you're missing! I live in them,  even in the summertime.)

SO funny! You guys know my amazing friend Kara, from Matt & Kara Adopt blog? Well, obviously we both have incredible taste...haha. We showed up in the same dress last night. Get this, she bought her dress at the Buffalo Exchange in California last week, and I bought mine here in Charlotte 2 days ago! HA! We thought it was hilariously awesome! TWINSIES! 

Summer Braid: Free People

Free People is my all time favorite. Here is a fun tutorial to change up your typical braid. :) Enjoy!