Introducing Our New [fash-uhn] Contributor

I'm so excited to introduce you to a dear friend of mine... and a new installment here on Fresh Mommy all about fashion! Being highly involved in the fashion world, and yet still able to keep it real and on a budget, Melody is the perfect woman to share new trends and insights on what's happening with our wardrobe. She's always been that friend, the one who grabs a belt out of her bag and throws it around my waist to complete my look when we're on a trip together. The one I ask advice of if I can't figure out what to wear to a specific event. The one who introduces me to a great brand I may not have ever found on my own. And yet, she keeps it simple, and real. As a mom, I know my fashion has changed dramatically since the first positive pregnancy test... I like real.

This comes at the perfect time, because before we dive too much into fashion, Mel is going to be tackling our closets with us. Hello, fashion advice mixed with #PROJECTdecor. I'll stop rambling now and let Melody take it away.

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Fashion. As is customary on almost every 3rd grader’s report across America, I will also begin my article with the ever-popular definition intro. Wiki describes it as such: “Fashion refers to a distinctive; however, often-habitual trend in a look and dress up of a person, as well as to prevailing styles in behavior.” Wait! Behavior?! hmmm.....

Welcome!!! My name is Melody Cooper Jones and we are going to go on the [fash-uhn] journey together! I was altogether thrilled when Tabitha approached me about contributing a recurring guest article on Fresh Mommy that will be dedicated to fashionable faves for mommy’s and babes. I love fashion and I have LIVED IT for half my life! It started for me when I was a young child and I discovered a bin full of fun fabric in my mother’s closet. Since my mother worked a ton while I was growing up, I had rarely seen her sew anything, and I had no idea that she had this treasure trove of fabric-y goodness collecting dust behind the racks and boxes that held her shoes! I yanked those pieces out of there and started playing. I do believe that in the course of one afternoon, I displayed 200+ outfits to my parents just by draping, tying and tucking those glorious strands in different directions on my little body.

And then it happened. At age 14, my whole world opened up. We took a family trip to New York City and saw my uncle’s clothing company, his showroom, his offices, his workrooms, and gasp!!! His mannequins DRAPED with all sorts of fabric! I had no idea that people designed this way. I was hooked! From working retail at various department stores, to sales in the showroom environment, to department store buying and product development, to merchandising, designing, and freelancing as an in-store consultant, I have been lucky enough to experience fashion in it’s many forms. I am also here to tell you that I am NO fashionista! I prefer easy to difficult, comfortable to chic and affordable to OMG, I MUST SPEND MY ENTIRE RENT MONEY ON THOSE EARRINGS!! However, I have seen enough to have some good perspective and I’m excited to share it with you! And moms, we will touch on that “BEHAVIORAL” part of the FASHION definition up above.

Stay tuned for the next installment: “Where ARE those pants I love so much?! Living in a clutter-free closet.”


Follow Melody on Facebook and Twitter

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Life, in iPhone Photos

Welcome to our tradition here on Fresh Mommy Blog... on Wednesdays, when I try to be wordless, I'm just going to dump the previous week's photos from my phone. A little piece of where we've been and what we've been up to. And the resulting collage? Well, I think it speaks so much more than I could. Welcome to Hump Day Dump, we'd love to have you join, whether it's one photo or many, phone pics or camera pics, wordless or not!

All of my photos were taken on an iPhone with the instagr.am app. If you want to find me, I'm on instagram as TabithaBlue. For more fabulous Wordless Wednesday memes, check out Project Alicia, Better in Bulk and Wordless Wednesday.
 

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#PROJECTdecor:: DIY Corner Ladder Bookshelf

While we had tools out in the garage and were making a hot and sweaty mess of ourselves  while sanding down rough edged pallets for the kid's pallet beds recently, we decided to get on a project I'd had in mind for awhile and tackle the rickety old wooden ladder that was stored in the corner of our garage for a few months since we picked it up from a man's yard. I'm sure that this ladder could have been scored for free in someone's junk pile at some point... I just hadn't found one. And then I did, for just $10 (I think, can't really remember) on Craigslist, convinced my husband to help me pick up the "perfect" ladder for my project and then proceeded to let it sit, untouched, until #PROJECTdecor came along to put a spur in my saddle.



Even as we were installing the shelf, this formerly bare corner of our living room began to transform into something comforting and inviting.



First we sanded some of the paint that was on it. I didn't want it to get too "clean" because I liked the rustic feel of the piece, but I also didn't want it to look like I swiped it from a painter's shop. Then, after measuring the two walls that we wanted to hang it on, we pretty much cut it in half, leaving just a few more inches on one side because there was a little more room on the wall it would grace.



After measuring twice (always measure twice before cutting something or drilling holes), we attached the bottom two L brackets to the wall, we used these brackets, held the ladder on top of them and measured and marked where we'd attach the top two brackets to the wall. Once they were all secured in place, we slid the ladder in between and held it in place 1.5 inches from both the wall we were attaching it to and the corner (we wanted the shelf away from the wall a bit so books would have room to sit) and screwed it to the L brackets. Then it was just repeat with the second piece of the ladder.




Once it was secured in place, I rounded up a few handfuls of books and accessories to fit into my new wall display... oh, and a few clipped greens from my yard.




Right now, we're loving our new space. I hope this give some of you ideas of how to use old things in new ways!

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Something else I'm loving? The inspiration from seeing your spaces, projects, decor and purging on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with #PROJECTdecor!

Keep the fun inspiration coming and share your favorite spaces and current projects by snapping a photo and hash tagging with #PROJECTdecor when you post! You can join the Facebook group to get in on the great threads and conversations happening over there. And make sure to share your photos on Instagram for a chance to win some of the awesome prize packages we're putting together. The first prize (randomly chosen, so the more you share, the more chance you have at winning) is valued at $500! Yes I said $500. You don't want to miss out on this!

A few of your #PROJECTdecor photos. (If you share on Instagram, your's may be chosen for a #PROJECTdecor post.)

1) mrsguidor  2) cherishedmama 3) becky_stevens  4) homeisablog  5) amandalkr  6) shelbygoodman

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It's officially fall friends, and that I'm loving as well.

xoxo


Welcome to a new sponsor, Solavei, providing UNLIMITED talk, text and data, contract-free for $49/month and pays people back for sharing with friends and family members. I love me some free.

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Living a Miraculous Weekend

For the last couple of days, my phone was beeping and vibrating in a game of text messages back and forth to a friend who had graciously offered us FREE tickets to Legoland (a place we've been wanting to take the kids but haven't quite yet justified the price tag) as I was in the middle of a tug-o-war with myself. Yes we're definitely going, no the kids aren't feeling well, maybe they'll be better by Saturday. It was a tear-filled morning before kindergarten on Friday and the return to tears that night that settled the final text, we can't go tomorrow. Instead of Legos and coasters, it's been a Saturday of recovering from the beginning-of-school bug that's going around while we get in cat naps and cover our babes in essential oils.

And you know what? It was really good. I almost feel guilty saying that... After talking with friends this week that have lost a loved one and have been facing so much through it all. After visiting with another friend who has spent the week in the hospital with her just months old beautiful baby boy; a little one who has been in and out of the hospital for a over a month because doctors haven't figured out what to do, and in the midst of it all, while my heart hurts for her, we just love, and stand with them, and pray and trust that God really is bigger.

So instead of waving hello to guilt and settling into it's big and plush cushions, I'm waving goodbye, knowing that each and every moment, even the ones filled with snotty tissue and eucalyptus baths, are ones to cherish, really cherish. I consider myself one who embraces even the smallest of moments, and then something comes along to remind me of how precious life is and I have to reevaluate. Sometimes the most beautiful things can come out of the dark. And sometimes, those dark moments make the good ones, the sweet ones we have with our family, look so much sweeter.

"There are two ways to live your life, one is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." ~Albert Einstein

I choose the latter.

So please, if you haven't yet today, tell someone you love them, sing a song no matter how off-key it may be, squeeze a little tighter with your next hug. Live like everything is a miracle.

In the meantime, it's been awhile since I've done a 10 things post of some of our favorite enjoying moments, so pull up a chair and I'll pour you a mug of hot spiced cider and have an orange helenium flower for your hair. After all, today is beginning of Autumn, and that fact needs to be celebrated!

And since I've got lists for my lists around the house full of home DIY projects, decor ideas and cleanup to-dos for #PROJECTdecor... so much so that now my husband just replies, "I adore you, but no thank you," when I asks if he wants to hear another idea, let's just consider this an anti-list with what we've been enjoying lately in no particular order, with many photos and few words.

The Little Teacher

She excitedly asks, "Brayden, are you ready for school?!" And then before he even has time to respond, she's writing out the alphabet to teach each letter to little brother. He sits and repeats.

House Guests

Birthday week rewind... Internet, this is Amanda, our good friend, babysitter and child entertainer from Michigan. She flew down for Aliyah's birthday week, and though it was torture, we kept it a secret from the kids until they saw her in the airport terminal. Surprise!

Nothing like bubble prezzies from Amanda's suitcase.

Birthday Morning Tradition

A candle lit breakfast. Though these candles don't last long.

Low Tide

Our favorite time at the beach comes when the tide rolls out low and kisses the coastline goodbye as it reveals plenty of soft, rippled sand in it's absence. The Gulf is slowly cooling from it's almost too-warm temps to the perfect mix of refreshing and calming.


Tracks in the sand...

This is why.


Love notes in the sand from my man = Heart smiles.



Quite the collection of hermit crabs.

And afternoons cradled in this salty embrace are a soft transition into evening's daily show.


Craft Bombs

As soon as September hits the calendar, I can already feel the effects that Fall brings with the turn of the page. Craft lovin' starts to run warm through my blood and my mind starts racing with plans for the holidays, birthday parties included.


This is what happens to my house the day before a birthday party, when a craftastic bomb goes off. 

Dusk

And the mesmerizing beauty of rolling waves and my wee ones bobbing along the coast is like a box of rainbow unicorns, too good to be true. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. I live here. I live here.



Happy first day of the week! Enjoy the miracles that life brings you this each day, even if you have to pull that unicorn out of the box and wake her up. Just do it.

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#PROJECTdecor:: DIY White Washed Wood Sign

It all started with a sign I wanted to make for a certain Pink Pony Party that will be shared in full detail soon. With my little two year old in the "driver's seat" of the Home Depot shopping cart, we weaved our way through paint and lumber, plucked two 2X4s off of the rack and headed straight to the cutting station. Wearing a sundress and makeup on this occasion means I was very quickly greeted with helpful staff ready to cut my two boards in half with a smile. Seriously, dresses and makeup help. That was the quickest trip through Home Depot I've ever had. Ever.

Once I was home with my score and lined up the pieces on the garage floor, we screwed two pieces of scrap wood we had at home into the back to hold it all together. Voila, sign! This actually sat on my mantel, plain, for a couple of weeks until I got to the whitewash part. And really? I didn't mind it like that.

Since I decided I would use the sign in the house after the party, I wanted to use something that wasn't too specific or party centric. So ponies were out. And the word Celebrate? Totally in.



After finding the font I wanted, printing the letters onto card stock and cutting them out, I laid them on the sign and used a glue stick to hold them in place once I had it how I liked it.

From there, it was just mixing a bit of white paint with some water for the white wash effect and laying it on there. At first it looked too white, but within seconds it lightened up to reveal smooth, even strokes and a pretty white washed woodgrain.



Once I finished painting the entire sign, we peeled up the letters to reveal the final effect, cleaned up a couple edges with a small brush dipped in nail polish remover, and let dry until the evening when we screwed about 3 feet of rope into the back of the sign using 2 of these conduit straps. Ready to hang!



At this moment, I have it hanging above my under-furnished mantel and will work to remedy that stat, but I may move this to my kid's room as it would work great in there as well. We shall see!

Cost of Project:
2- 2X4s – $7.50
3 feet of rope – $3
2- 1/2" conduit straps – $1.55
I had some white craft paint, brushes, cardstock, scissors, gluestick and screws on hand. 

Total cost = 12.05

What fun projects do you have going on or are there certain spaces in your home that you love and want to share with us?! Just tag your photos on Instagram (or Twitter) with the hashtag #PROJECTdecor! We would LOVE to see it. And we have some Ahhhhhh-mazing prizes being lined up for #PROJECTdecor and winners will be chosen from those hash tagged photos... so share away!!

xoxo

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