donuts and drinks

Had Annabelle Lee's first birthday party yesterday before heading home to MO to celebrate the actual day with my family.  It was a very fun party to plan for and I think our soon to be one year old - although oblivious to the fact she was our guest of honor - had a good time too:)

rich with rosemary

More rosemary harvesting to start my time off!

Gates Made

Been marathon-ing at work since the end of January and the finish line is finally in sight.  Tomorrow will be day 18/18 and I cannot wait until it is officially over.  And officially the start of my 11 day vacation!  Will still be busy - getting ready for A's party, having said party, trip to MO and back - but in such a more relaxing and lovely way.  Despite the lack of posts to offer proof, I have indeed been celebrating a month of homemade.  As promised.  In fact, my little projects have gone a LONG way towards keeping me sane.  Will offer up a belated Valentine's day post when I can convince my littles to pose for a picture in their mommy gifts - so cute!  But in the meantime I'll share some of my homemade food related offerings.

Homemade gin for a residency reunion get together and homemade lavender
simple syrup for part of Claytons' Valentines Day present - yum!
 

Pumpkin and apricot pouches with sage - the girls LOVE these!



More healthy snacks for E and A! 

monday

My sweet Annabelle Lee is turning one in just a few short weeks.  We're having a party at our house to celebrate her first year and then heading home to Missouri to spend her actual birthday with my side of the family.  And while she would be none the wiser if I didn't give her anything beyond a pretty cake and lots of clapping (she loves clapping!), it just wouldn't feel right for me not to give my baby a gift for her special day.  So.  I decided to make her a little something that could be used to add to her party décor and then later find a home in her room. 

I decided on an embroidery hoop 'art' piece.   The fabric I chose has meaning only to me and A.  It's from the hospital gown I wore during my labor and her delivery.  Yep.  I was one of those women who felt the need to fancy up the whole having a baby experience.  And know what?  Felt cute wearing it even in my sweaty, oversized state.  It made me happy!  The red heart with aqua embroidery thread factors in to her loose 'xoxo' party theme. 

I think it turned out almost as sweet as she is:)

month's end

Today I finished up the prep on my rosemary harvest.  On call today so squeezed in time both before and after work.  Plus got a little assist from the best husband ever:) This ends my January challenge of a month of daily projects.  Got a ton accomplished but, of course, still have plenty to do - that list will never be completed.  Will still update with any projects worth the photography and writing time but for the most part I'm moving on!  February is a month dedicated to homemade-ness.  That's a word.  Promise;)  As I've previously mentioned, one of my goals for 2016 is to make every effort to gift the hand or home made. This next month is filled with lots of gift giving occasions!  So before my official transition here's one last pic collage . . . which now that I think about it, is the perfect bridge from one challenge to the next as these little containers of Gates Grown dried rosemary would make such a nice gift!

beauty full day

The unfortunate demise of our garbage disposal gave me to opportunity to reorganize the space under our kitchen sink today.  The neat freak bones were in place but had been neglected as of late.  Now everything is in new, perfect working order.  Being on floor level, however,  made me realize how dingy our cabinets are looking.  Which made me think about repainting vs a total kitchen rehab.  Which then in turn made me think about how we needed to repaint the exterior of our house before taking on any big internal projects.  Which made me think about our yard and the professional landscaping services needed for an erosion problem we're having in the front.  Which led to thinking about the back yard and how I was supposed to be spending all day outside because of the freaking amazing weather we are having!

And so Family Gates trooped on out and spend a lovely few hours pulling weeds, cutting back our grapevine and rosemary bush, building houses with gardening stakes, and soaking in a glorious amount of sunshine.  Harvested a decent amount of rosemary for an upcoming project and considering myself done for the day.  The babies and the boy are sleeping.  So I'm off to take a quiet, hot, long shower.  Feeling very, very blessed.

high in the 70s

Today is my last week-day off before a marathon work schedule begins.  I'm off tomorrow too - my last free Saturday *sniff, sniff* in the foreseeable future.  So as soon as I can throw our sheets in the dryer I'm off to finish shopping for A's birthday party and then to - please! please! - hopefully squeeze in a little me time with a much over due pedicure.  It's the start of a beautiful weekend here in Texas so planning to spend lots of time outside tomorrow with our girls getting the herb garden ready for planting.  But I didn't forget my project of the day! 

We've all been battling colds these last few weeks but are thankfully seeing the end of the cruds in our house.  Our bathroom closet, home of all things health related, took a beating during this time period.  It needed a little organizational love:)