Mrs. Rogers Neighborhood

As most of you know, Bill and I are expecting a little one at the end of this month, and I wanted to share how our gender neutral nursery turned out, since we don’t find out the gender until the big day! I read a lot about making the space inspiring for you, since the baby has not developed their own likes and dislikes up front.  Make it somewhere you can stare at the walls and dream for them.  Make it a place you are excited about spending time in and, most importantly, get a very comfortable chair.  We made sure to do all of these things, and the space turned into something we both love.  I go in their daily dreaming about how it will begin to shape our little one into an animal, book and travel lover.  I can’t wait to meet them and see them begin to dream big dreams of seeing the world. The gallery wall was inspired by many adventures Bill and I have been on together – Thailand, Hawaii, Italy, Seattle and New England all have pieces represented.  In addition, I sn

Showers are such a special celebration.  All anticipation and excitement.  Lots of advice and gifts.  I really soaked up our baby showers that happened a few months ago and tried to remember these are the moments you hold dear.  When all your people rally around you in support and encouragement.  When you know life is about to change in ways you cannot even fathom. We held a large shower at our home on a Saturday in April.  Tons of family and friends came through our house and enjoyed tacos and margaritas and brought so many gifts for baby my eyes welled up with tears multiple times.  Everywhere I turned people were laughing and chatting.  Neighbors mixed with family.  Friends from different circles collided.  It was so amazing to see so much bonding taking place in our home.  People offered to host the shower, but I selfishly wanted the memory where we live, because now when I look into our backyard, I think of our baby shower, and my 30 th birthday party, Faith and Joshes 2

Bill and I wanted to snag a little time away before I got too big to really enjoy it, so a couple months ago (when I was around 6 months pregnant), we headed about an hour away to downtown Redlands and then into the mountains for some fresh air and quiet time together.  This day was blissful.  We had no agenda and took it as it came.  We checked out Downtown Redlands for some breakfast and discovered a small farmers market and a great little downtown area with an outdoor book sale and Norm made a new labradoodle friend named Ziggy.  We found a crepe place and a quaint little ally set up with tables and beautiful murals to sit and enjoy our breakfast to-go.  We both agreed it was a great stop on our way to or from the local mountains. Upon the recommendation of a local, we went to a smaller lake than we had originally planned.  This was one that we could walk all the way around, and when we got out of the car I felt some tension fall off my shoulders immediately.  Isn’t is cr

I am not the best at taking lots of garden pictures as a progression (especially with Bill and I in them), but I generally catch a picture of the produce when it is on our counter drying from being washed off and harvested.  Over the last few months we have had tons of stuff come out of our garden and have been using it as creatively and frequently as possible.  Beets, carrots, parsnips, cauliflower, Swiss chard, zucchini, cucumbers, berries, sage, dill and recently a jalapeno and a couple of tomatoes (we are about to have a surplus of tomatoes and peppers on our hands). Over Memorial Day weekend we re-planted a good amount of our garden and as the weather warms up our garden seems to be signaling that is thrilled with the changes we have made.  Originally we had liners in the bottom of the beds, but what we realized is they were preventing the plants from growing deep roots and fruit and after ripping them out we have found much better results.   Being nine months pregn

 A little over a year ago, at one of my very best friends weddings, an idea for a book club was born.  After that discussion, dancing commenced and wine was drank and a few weeks later I could not get the idea out of my head.  So I reached out to the two girls I had discussed it with (and another dear friend) and we decided to move forward and see where it went.  We had all been in book clubs before, but for one reason or another they had ended, and we were all feeling like we would give it a shot, but didn’t have the highest of expectations, especially since no one knew each other.  The common threads were friendship with me and a love for reading. When we got together to discuss what books we wanted to read at my house over Mexican food and margaritas it became obvious that this group had the potential to be kind of amazing.  No one jinxed it for awhile though, we kept meeting and reading and discussing and as the chemistry got better and better we realized that we h