love is blonde

In redesigning the blog (thank you everyone for the swooning!) I found myself reading through a bunch of my archives. Aside from the normal embarrassment one feels upon reading one’s young and immature diary writings, I couldn’t help but think to myself…damn, I was really happy back then.

There was the time we did six word memoirs. Do any of you remember those? There are some gems in the comments.

There was the time I shaved my eyeball with a razor and ended up with an eye patch (and later with LASIK and 20/20 vision so we can consider it a happy accident).

There was the time my comments got a little crazy when I told you guys the s-e-x-u-a-l poem that Andrew wanted read at our wedding. Good veto, friends.

There was the ordinary Wednesday afternoon that we snuck out of work and got married at the courthouse.

And perhaps my favorite post of all time, writing about falling in love over the course of six Valentine’s days.

There’s more, too. Drunken girlfriend weekends, crafty endeavors, buying a house, beautiful vacations. In 2010 and 2011 the fog of infertility crept up on me. And then a little bit of hope and happiness for awhile, and then the loss. Now I feel like a black cloud follows me everywhere. It shadows all of my thoughts and words. It owns me and I hate it.

One day I’d really like to be a happy person again. If I had to write my six word memoir today, it would be: Things will never be the same.

With a new blog design! If you click over from your Google Reader or other preferred blog reading device, you’ll see a snazzy new site design by the amazing Jennifer.

Farewell to the cherries, which I loved dearly for many years. It just felt like time for a fresh, new look.

Let me know if you guys run into any glitches and we will get them worked out. In the meantime, have a lovely weekend. It might be 60 degrees here tomorrow! Holla!

OLD:

NEW:

First, an apology. A resurgence of some first trimester-like queasiness has left me quite behind in replying to your extremely warm and loving outpouring of support from Friday’s announcement. It was so awesome to see all your messages trickle in. Me and Baby B are feeling the love.

Next, a thank you. I’ve been wanting to write to say thank you for awhile, and I feel like I should warn you that there may be a few cheesy moments ahead. I have almost given up this blog so many times. But I just can’t because I love you guys so much. I hope you recognize yourself in something I say below.

–

Thank you for your comments, emails, tweets, texts, and more to congratulate Andrew and me on the happy baby news. I hope you will stay with me for this new, crazy chapter in our lives.

Thank you for all your comments and words of support and encouragement on the infertility struggles (that are really only temporarily gone — baby #2 will likely be another challenge). Some of you are going through the same thing, some of you are cheerleaders, some of you are listeners. I appreciate you all.

Thank you for those of you who shared with me your own struggles. A lot of you suffered losses or hard times too, and no matter what I’ve gone through, I’ve never been the only one (and neither have you).

Thank you to the people in my real life who read my blog and then see me in person and politely don’t bring up the awkward and embarrassing parts.

Thank you to my blog friends who have become “in real life” friends and reach out to make plans (even when I become all hermit-y for months at a time).

Thank you to readers who care so much about the things I dream for, praying and hoping for them to come true. It’s kind of amazing.

Thank you to my twitter friends, who indulge my 140 character whims and keep me sane and laughing every day.

Thank you to my flickr friends who always tell me I look pretty and my house looks cute. It’s one of the best self-esteem boosters I’ve got.

Thank you to people who keep reading and commenting, even though I kind of suck at reciprocating.

Thank you for being so open and honest about your own lives in your writing, which gives me courage to do the same.

Thank you to the bloggers who are always creating beautiful things (crafts, food, photography, art) that keep me so inspired.

Thank you all for reading and being a part of my journey.

It’s a little bit cruel that New Year’s resolutions must be made when it’s dark and cold and wet outside (at least for us Northern Hemispherians). I’m supposed to wake up in the dark, get out of my warm bed, walk through sleet and snow and arrive at work looking halfway decent — oh, and simultaneously exercise more, pack my lunch, spend less money, and [insert resolution here]?

We can’t help with all of your resolutions, but K at Two Adults, One Brown Baby* (*now two adorable babies but I digress) and I are here to help you look cute while doing them.

(I probably should stop calling everything cute. What I mean is we’re here to help you look stylish and put together.)

(Those of you who participated in Mission: Put Together with RA and OPH know what I am about to say…)

Announcing: The Put Together Project. Yippeee!

The project is very simple and anyone can participate:

–Spend a few extra minutes looking “put together” in the morning. Casual or business (or business casual), doesn’t matter. Try some accessories. Iron that shirt. Don’t look like you rolled out of bed in clothes from 2003.

–Snap a photo and upload it to the flickr group.

–Get inspired by fellow participants’ outfits, leave comments/notes for others, and have fun getting through these dreadful winter months together with a little bit of style.

–We may start doing some weekly challenges to keep things exciting, so stay tuned.

Group guidelines:

–No pressure to be exceptionally fashionable; keep it real.
–No negativity about yourself or others.
–Post when you can; doesn’t have to be every day.
–No need to go shopping or spend money on new items – use what’s in your closet in new ways, or dig up stuff you haven’t worn in awhile.
–Open to all: bloggers, tweeters, and even offline friends (just sign up for a free flickr account and join the group)

Logistical details:

–The easiest way to participate is on flickr, but feel free to blog or tweet your outfit if you prefer.

–Let’s use the twitter hashtag #TPTP to discuss the project and share links/pics on Twitter.

–It’s okay to giggle at TPTP, that’s part of the reason we picked this name.

–Let’s aim for one full month of Put Togetherness, which gets us to February 7th.

–Hey, have a button while you’re at it!

Go forth and look gorgeous, darlings. And if I missed anything or you have any questions, holler in the comments.

P.S. Buttons are located at:

http://www.loveisblonde.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/TPTPpinksm.jpg

http://www.loveisblonde.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/TPTPbluesm.jpg

http://www.loveisblonde.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/TPTPgraysm.jpg

Fun Announcement for the Short Attention Span Set:

My dear friend and I started a new blog! Check it out! www.chemicalfreeromance.com

Isn’t the name adorable? Co-blogger Alexa gets all the credit for it.

The Longer Version:

When we started to try to get pregnant I dutifully read up on how to become a glowing, healthy vessel for human life so my children can grow up to score 1600 2400 on their SATs and become rocket scientists. And even though that whole pregnant thing has been a big FAIL, I became a little obsessed anyway with avoiding things like BPA, phthlalates, parabens, and other toxic and hormone-disrupting chemicals.

Reading up on this stuff becomes a black hole of time and brainspace pretty quickly. It’s hard to sift out the maybe-possibly-bad-stuff from the really-truly-bad-stuff and make decisions to minimize exposure without going crazy and building a (BPA-free, of course) bubble to live in.

One thing I found helpful was a page of recommendations from the President’s Cancer Panel, some of which were:

Avoid exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and known or suspected carcinogens prior to a child’s conception and throughout pregnancy and early life, when risk of damage is greatest.

Consult information sources such as the Household Products Database to help make informed decisions about the products you buy and use.

Choose products made with non-toxic substances or environmentally safe chemicals.

These are only three items from a longer list (google doc), but it seemed like things I could do easily that would be worthwhile.

Alexa (who has been reading up on this stuff and being a conscious consumer for much longer than I have), our sisters (who we have not yet successfully roped in to actual blogging), and I started trading ideas and tips for finding green household cleaning products, good natural shampoo, lotion without phthalates, etc, that we like. None of us want to spend a lot of money on natural products that don’t work, or smell funny, or give us greasy hair and zits. After dozens of emails amongst ourselves, we figured it might be a better idea to catalog it all online in a blog.

And thusly our new blog, Chemical Free Romance, was born. We write honest and simple reviews of chemical-free products we have personally used, and sometimes we share good deals, news articles, and other tidbits on the topic.

So come on over and hang out with us, share your knowledge, and maybe add a few of our favorite products and practices to your own life too.