Dress design for Shabby Apple dresses

Designers? Make it work....

just a quick BTW...don't you just love tim gunn? he's fab...

So...word on the street is Shabby Apple is holding a design contest and a friend and I are trying our hand at a little project runway biz-niss. Generally, my sketching repertoire is limited to stick figures and princesses, so bear with me. And, I won't take it personally if you think, "what the--??". Actually, I probably will, so please don't think that.

The first three sketches are from me and the last three are from my friend:

For my designs, I did one dress design in 3 different color combos. I have forever been in love with a boat neck shirt. It is my raison d'etre, so to speak, so I thought it only appropriate to make EVERY dress have this neck line. I'm also new at being creative, so it was the only one I was capable of drawing. ;)

The shirt of the dress would be a great nylon/spandex blend (inspiration from a favorite Banana Republic shirt--it makes me feel sleek and slim) and the skirt of the dress would be a quality cotton poplin to give it a nice breezy feel, but keep you covered in windy and extra sunny situations (we all remember diaphanous Di, right? yikes!) I also love the pockets in the front and the tie at the waist. Practical and functional, sweet and sassy. just my style.



#1 "Poppy Perennial" I love the black top contrasted with the gray skirt with fat and lovely poppies. i think my husband would kiss me again and again once he saw me in these togs.






















#2 "Gondola" Is anyone surprised? I could DEFINITELY see myself in this dress while a handsome Italian man rowed me through the canals in Venice singing opera. obviously.






















Dress #3 "Queen Bee" I'm slightly bossy so wearing this dress would probably validate my bossy tendencies. I also love retro designs and this yellow geometric pattern reminded me of an awesome couch that I wish I had in my house.

















My friend's designs....


Dress #1 "Executive Decision"
I was inspired by the sophistication of a collar and the sexy lines of a pencil skirt.
I would make the top of the dress out of cotton. I would love it if it had a sheen to it. The skirt would be made out of a cotton/spandex blend.
















Dress #2 "Murphy's Law"
The dress reminds me of a 30's 40's style dress. I might make the flower a pin to give the dress some more texture. I think this dress would be nice made out of linen.
















Dress #3 "Poseidon"
The skirt would be made out of chiffon to make it flow. The top of the dress would be made Nylon/spandex blend. I can just picture someone wearing this dress at a Sunday brunch or spring party.


















Once our fabulous designs are chosen as finalists, we promise to stalk you until you submit your vote to help us win lots of success and money. and for that...we love you.

Truth or Dare

Confession: I watched "17 Again" and laughed. a lot. Way better than I thought it was going to be so was left pleasantly surprised and even thought about watching it again. Afterall, only $1.07 with redbox. (then realized I'm too cheap, so took it back on time).

Confession: It is nearly impossible for me to avoid the "Little Debbie" snacks display at the grocery store. My strong will (yes, I have one sometimes) is the only thing saving me from being 400 lbs.

Confession: I farted at the doctor's office b/c I wasn't expecting the midwife to come in so soon, then i blamed it on the baby. don't think she was fooled.

fancy feast?

When my brothers and sister and I were younger, we had a favorite game: cats and dogs. There wasn't much to this game--it just involved crawling around, barking or meowing, and, of course, eating dog/cat food. Outrageously fun, right?

Well, today, I revisited the past through my daughter.

My parents have been dog sitting this summer and had left some dog food on the counter. Tillie spied it and would not rest until I gave her some (in her defense, it did look a lot like coco puffs). No matter how many times I told her that it wasn't cereal, she insisted on eating it. So, being the mature person I am, handed over a few pieces. (She was so mad because it wasn't enough!) She ate the first, then the second, then the third. I thought seth was going to die as she popped one after the other into her mouth and chewed it up!! I just laughed and laughed!! It wasn't until Rob and Flori told her that if she didn't like it she could spit it out--which she did. And, still, I just laughed and laughed! Sweet joy!

serious, outrageous fun!

Ta-Da!

Well.....the baby came. thank goodness!!

(Just a baby. no head lice involved this time.)

William Finchley "Finch" Braun

(He's still a bit camera shy...)

born Father's Day, June 21, 2009. (Best Father's Day gift EVER!!)

Measured 21.5 long inches and weighed in at 7 lbs 11 oz. good boy. Any bigger and I may have just burst my seams (literally).

As much as I know you're all loving my sexy shoulders and swollen face, the reality is that I had just given birth. Natural child birth, that is. As in "hurts like a mother (giving natural childbirth)" birth. For those who advocate this type of birth, I feel proud to have weathered the storm.

To be quite honest, I was 100% unprepared for how things would all turn out. I knew that if my body was going fast, that I would just skip the epidural and go unmedicated (since the epidural with Tillie was such a bust), which ended up happening. Labor started around 6pm, we got to the hospital by 7pm and Finch arrived at precisely 10pm. nice timing! easy-peasy. no biggie. t'aint no thang. I did it with my eyes closed. oy!

whatever.

A big fat NO THANKS to those who didn't so much as even mention the "ring of fire" that accompanies going natch. Suppose I could have at least picked up a book about the whole thing, but didn't. my bad (or maybe my good. didn't know what was coming until it was REALLY coming--if you catch my drift).

Seth was a pro. champion coach. cream of the crop. my one and only. Thanks for your encouragement and constant reminders to stop furrowing my brow and work on my yoga breathing. Even when I thought I would die and was doubting (read: totally regretting) my decision, you always knew I could do it, didn't you? And I did! I am....amazing!

Mom, I loved having you there, too. Nothing like a mother of 8 giving you perspective through your whole birthing ordeal. 100% supportive (no pun intended) and never pushy (pun intended). You're the best!

Thanks to the nurse and midwife who ran me a HOT bath and had me sit on the yoga ball. Miracle workers, honestly. May consider birthing in a hot tub next baby. dead serious.


All in all, an eventful day. SO glad it's over! phew!

The Happy Father!

Tillie meeting her new little brother for the first time.

Nanny (the life saver) and my chillins

Thanks to everyone who called, visited and passed along well-wishing and joy. We are so happy to have wonderful family and friends to share our lives with.

Here's to the safe arrival of baby numero dos! (Holla!)

BTW....

I'm pregnant....and due in 10 days. Who didn't get the memo?


It's actually felt really nice to be off the radar in the blogging world, but just in case you want to take a teensy trip down memory lane with me, I'd be much obliged to show you some of the highlights of the last 40 weeks....

















DECEMBER

Christmas in Oregon. Horrifying weather. So traumatized that I couldn't take any pictures. Looked too scary and frazzled from death defying stunts on icy freeways.

JANUARY

Still recovering from Oregon. Plus, getting fatter. No good photos.


FEBRUARY

Tillie turns 3!!! When did our little girl get so big?



MARCH

Disneyland. Best trip ever with a 3 year old!


Is anybody else dying from the sheer amount of joy and pleasure on this little girl's face?

The Good Lookin' Braunies at Huntington Beach

APRIL

Moved to East Millcreek to a quaint and charming little home. very cute. Also, caught a mouse.

This is our bathroom and our daughter's bum. (also quaint and charming?)



Celebrated Easter and took so-so pics.

MAY

I turn 29. Celebrate at local B&B. No pics. MYOB. ;)

JUNE

Rains like the dickens and reminds Seth of home far away. Still debating if we should ever return to Oregon after Christmas travels debacle. May reconsider after seeing cute hubby in rain.

W.F.B. set to make late June appearance, if not sooner. May or may not keep you posted. tjk?

Black Friday

Early this morning, my little Tills climbed into bed with me. She had spent the night before being sick over and over again and I used every last blanket and set of sheets I could find before she finally relented and made it through the rest of the night. As I snuggled her close to me, I realized how grateful I was that she had made it until......? wait, what time was it again? 6 am? 6am nothing! It was 2. 2am. 2:00. I hadn't even been asleep for 2 hours. good grief, girl! Go to bed!!! I ushered her back to her own room and bed and she. had. a. meltdown. Waaaaaaah!

Now, normally, I would just ignore it and let her cry herself to sleep, but we have company and her hysterics weren't really conducive to the sleeping arrangements. ah, geez. For the first hour I did my best to console her and help her calm down and then gave up. Seth took the second shift, but to no avail. This baby was not going to sleep. I went in her room and practically yelled, "what are you doing?! People are trying to sleep in this house! Stop crying and GO TO BED!" But that didn't really work and just made her more upset (surprising, I know!) In a state of desperation I threatened, "if you don't stop crying, you're going to have to go to sleep in the car! Do you want to stay in your bed or go to the car?!" Well, guess what she chose? the car, of course. Since Seth was awake now, too, we decided to pack up the car and take a little drive.

It was 4 am at this point so the streets were pretty empty. Neither Seth nor I has ever participated in the Black Friday sales, so we thought it would be interesting to see if there were lines already forming. Walmart and Best Buy already had ridiculous lines. Who are these crazy people? Standing in the freezing cold rain, waiting for their doorbuster deals? Not my idea of a great day. We drove all over the city: Toys R Us, Target, Office Depot, the malls, hundreds of people everywhere. After almost an hour the traffic got heavy and our baby had finally fallen asleep. I felt tempted just once to wait in line, but then I remembed what I was wearing (and not wearing!) and decided against it. We rolled in our driveway on the heels of 5am. What a night! sheesh!

What do you think was the best deal we saw the whole morning? Gas at Costco. $1.49/gallon. That seemed like something worth waking up early for.

Grateful for .....

Thanksgiving is upon us and it hasn't quite registered all the way what exactly that means. I've gotten as far as "no work" and then the idea sort of runs away to a dusty corner of my mind. I've read the blogs and emails of several people and think, "what a great idea....I'm glad someone is demonstrating immense gratitude...." and then I skip back to my own blog and think: "Shabby Apple....more work....." and then proceed to check my work email, acting all skittish if I think I hear Seth walking around the corner--like I'm either looking for Christmas presents or checking out something a little bit more scandalous (eeeek!)

So I've been a work-a-holic lately. so sue me.

Apart from my all-consuming working ways, I have found time to see some great movies, hang out with friends and catch some serious zzzzzz's. I've re-discovered the joy of sleeping in and eating breakfast at 10am. I got to give a great (and all too personally real) lesson on procrastination to a group of 14-15 yr old girls, all of whom had never heard of cliff's notes. what?! (My mom just barely gave away my overwhelmingly large stack to the DI this summer. yeesh!) I celebrated my 4th wedding anniversary and spent a romantic evening with the man of my dreams (blog post to soon follow). I have even been surpringly dedicated to my gym workout (by 'surprisingly dedicated' I mean I have now gone 3 out of 5 days, instead of my usual zero out of 5 days routine). I have kept my house clean--a VERY impressive act, since I am THE WORST housekeeper I know of. I made a Thanksgiving dress for my daughter and it's probably the cutest thing you've ever seen. I learned how to play a new board game and I paid all my bills! so hah! check and check!

allora....i'm grateful that I actually have some wonderful things to show for myself. Now back to those work emails.....